Liberia U17 Men’s National Team Depart for Int’l Friendlies in Austria
Head Coach Ansu Keita provides instructions to his U-17 team.
As part of the preparation for the upcoming WAFU ‘A’ U17 tournament scheduled for July 17-27 in Cape Verde, a 31-man delegation from the Liberia Football Association (LFA) men’s under-17 delegation will today leave the country for Vienna, Austria.
The delegation, according to a release from the FA, is headed by LFA First Vice President Sekou Konneh and includes executive committee member Ivan Brown. Others are head coach Ansu Keita, deputy coach Rashidi Williams, physical trainer Dominic Savice, goalkeeping coach Chris K. Wesseh, administrative manager Eric Panton, medic Anthony Roberts, equipment manager Alex B. Nelson, and sports journalist Michael Solomon of Prime FM.
In Austria, the U17 team will play four friendly matches during their week-long visit. They will face Austria Wien U18 on June 23, and Red Bull Salzburg U17 on June 24, before taking a day’s break to face Austria’s oldest club, First Vienna FC on June 26 and end the friendly journey with the final match against Rapid Wien U18.
Addressing a pre-departure press conference at the football house on Monday, Coach Keita said the friendlies are very important and will help to better prepare his team for the qualifiers in Cape Verde.
“We are going for preparation; going to Austria is not because we're going to win or play extra football that people have not seen before. No. We are going to implement what we've been training on; we will go there and prepare. Our preparation to Austria will lead us to Cape Verde for the WAFU U17 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, which is the most important part of this journey. Our aim is to go to Cape Verde and qualify the team to the African Cup Of Nations.”
Eight teams are expected to participate in the WAFU ‘A’ tourney in Cape Verde, where the two finalists will earn qualification for the U17 AFCON.
Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Onesimus Beyan, Emmanuel Miracle Monger and Mitchell Dolo Lavella
Functioning Players: Darlington Mitchell, Abel V. Tarr, Melvin G. Zah, Alvin Sulay Kolo, Jonathan Freeman, Saah L. Moses, Jr., Anthony Gustavo Paska, Jr., Fallah Divine Johnson, Jr., Alhaji Samukai, Sekou Amadu Sheriff, Vasco Sam Sumo, Emmanuel Favor Fully, Stephen Davies, Raphael Peters, Kindness Cole, Sumo Kollie, J. Justin Y. Joejoe and David Menson, Jr.