Freetown - This weekend is the turn of young players in the African continent to demonstrate their skills in soccer when the U-17 Nations Cup preliminary round first leg matches get underway in 14 countries. Among the 14 countries is Sierra Leone whose junior national team, Sierra Stars are scheduled to battle with their Gambian counterpart, the Young Scorpions.

The Sierra Stars-Young Scorpion's encounter is scheduled for this afternoon at the national stadium. The match is expected to be a thrilling and exciting one because it will be highly contested. Both teams are well prepared to face each other.

Sierra Stars started active training more than a month ago. They played series of friendly matches against local division clubs and Leone stars and they won many. They only had a draw with Leones Stars. Their performances in all the friendly matches were convincing. Thanks to the technical crew of Nahim Khadi, John Ajina Sesay, Joseph Toby and Lyndon Thomas.

Coach Nahim Khadi has said that he is satisfied with his boys performance and hope they will beat The Gambians. The Gambians on the other hand had a rich preparation. They played series of friendly matches in Senegal and their performance during these friendly matches were impressive.

However, about 90% of the Gambian players are schoolboys. Most of them are non league players. Of 18 players only six players in the Gambian team are not schoolboys. Of the six players only two players are regulars in their team. They are the team captain, Hassan Nyang who is a defender and Lamin Sanko. However this will be an added advantage to Sierra Stars whose players are regulars in their clubs.

The Sierra Stars are well determined to crush the Gambians. "We are going to play not for money but to lift the country's flag high and nothing will stop us from walloping them" boasted Ajina.. However, Sierra Stars will have nearly the entire crowd in the Stadium cheering them up for victory and no doubt they will start the match as the favourites to grab victory.

A victory for the Gambians will be a surprise news. Some of the players that are expected to make up the Sierra Stars team today are goal keeper Idrissa, Wurie Jalloh, Adiru Daniel Foday-captain BB, Sesay and uncle.

The Young Scorpions coach Pa Suwaieh faye who is 37 years told Concord Times on Thursday that his team is just three weeks old and he is just one month old in the job so he can't assure that his team will win the match.

"We will play good football" he said. He further said he respected the Sierra Stars team.

Meanwhile Cote d' Ivoire have announced their withdrawal from the CAF U-17 qualifying series. They were supposed to face Liberia. Cote d' ivore's withdrawal means that Liberia have qualified for the first round stage of the qualifying series. Below are the full under-17 fixtures for the weekend. The first teams mentioned are the host. Namibia - Gabon Eritrea - Burundi Swaziland - Tanzania Senegal - Guinea Bissau Malawi - Mauritius Eq.Guinea - Sao Tome Kenya - Somalia Rwanda - Ethiopia Madagascar - Lesotho Zimbabwe - Botswana Sierra Leone - The Gambia Libya - Chad Sudan - Uganda Togo- Algeria The Gambian delegation players 1. Muhammed Thomas - St. Martin 2. Abdulie Njie - Student 3. Madi Conteh - Walidan FC 4. Lamin Sonko - Flamings 5. Hassan Nyang - St. Martin 6. Foday Suwareh - Student 7. Pa Ousman Sonko - Starllite 8. Tijan Mboob - Bakau United 9. Sanjally Sarr - Student 10. Demba Jagne - Student 11. Sheikh Omar Njie - Student 12. Ebou Njie - Student 13. Babucarr Saho - Stud!
ent 14. Sarjo Cham - Student 15. Badou Conateh - Student 16. Assan Jatta - Student (Steve Beco) 17. Joe Jatta 18. Arthur Gomer - Student

Technical Staff Pa Suwareh Faye - Coach Alagie Sillah Pa Samba Mbenga

Delegation Leader Abdul Salam Jammeh Medical Staff Alagie Mboob Pa Matarr Ndow

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