Soccer has taken a step forward - Manilal

Bernard PERERA

"Football in Sri Lanka has taken a step forward in the recent past due to various reasons.

The main reason for this is the development squads that was set up for different age group commencing from under 13 onwards,", said Manilal Fernando addressing a media briefing.

Though an improvement is shown on the whole, that is not something to be satisfied with.

The Federation after many discussions decided to revamp the squad by adding new talent to fill the gaps created by the seniors who had to be removed from the existing squad.

The new squad of 35 players were picked to undergo training for one full month before the final 25 players were selected.

The poolists were under a new coach and a new manager Sampath Perera and Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera.

Fernando stated that it is always necessary to have changes if we are to improve, with this in mind the officials took this new step.

He said that Sampath Perera had the necessary qualification to be the coach. Specially he is a disciplined serviceman in addition to his football skills. This prompted us to make him the coach.

Explaining further he noted that Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera is a top class administrator and highly knowledgeable on the sport.

The Federation can expect good results in the near future with the present management's plans' said Fernando.

Sarath Weerasekera also addressed the gathering and said that him first assignment was to go with the team to Nepal for the Prime Minister's Cup Soccer Tourney. We had to play against three national teams. The squad had eleven newcomers which included 9 under 23 players for the first game we used more seniors and few youngsters which we won.

To try out the new talent I decided to include seven freshers for the second game this gave us the chance to find out their exact abilities.

Most of them were upto standard but few failed. But I can assure that those who failed too can be brought to the top level as we have seen where they went wrong. Now it is left to us to correct them and to fit them into correct positions to play along with their seniors to a strong side.

Nepal trip saw the Lankan reach the final and lose to a national side which is a strong outfit. The loss here can be made to good use to improve," said Weerasekera. Also the experience the newcomers gained will be of vital importance as they are to face international opposition next week when Sri Lanka host the AFC challenge cup qualifying round games.

The teams arriving in Sri Lanka will be Pakistan, Brunei and Chinese Taipei. Sri Lanka play their opening game against Brunei on April 4. The other games are on April 6 and 8.