Sri Lanka Under-23 football outfit off to Qatar

• Head Coach Amanullah wants to get maximum out of the two warm up games in Qatar

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Sri Lanka Under-23 football team will leave for Qatar later this week in order to take part in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualification tournament from 25-31 October. Sri Lanka’s qualifying group will include Syria,

Mohamed Amanulla

Yemen and hosts Qatar, with the winner of the group moving forward to the next round.

The 33-member pool has been boosted with three players from the senior squad, currently in the Maldives, set to join. Rifkan Mohamed, Mohamed Aqib and Aman Faizer are all currently in Maldives for the 2021 SAFF Cup.

The Sri Lankan Under-23 side will be coached by former Zahirian cricketer-cum-footballer Mohamed Amanulla, who played for the Maradana school during the late 80’s. He was also part of the team which won the only SAFF Cup in 1995 under Sampath Perera in Colombo. He played for Renown and later coached the national Under-19 at the South Asian tournament. Amanulla possesses an ‘A’ coaching license along with his Level 3 certificate from the England FA (Football Association).

Speaking to Daily FT, Amanullah said: “Due to COVID we could not hold training sessions. Further we could not go around the country in order to search talent. We are mainly focusing on our Under-19 players and a few leading players from the clubs for this tour. Our target is 2023. We have time for that. We as a team will be trying our level best to do well with a lot of improvements. We did not have match practice, but we will leave for Qatar shortly and play two warm up games. I am expecting the boys to gain the maximum out of these two encounters to be on par with the other teams in the tournament. We have to move forward with positive results.” 

Amanullah also said that the team captain would be appointed before the tour in the near future.

Sri Lanka Under-23 squad 

Yuvarasa Thanusan (Uruthirapuran SC), Shenal Sandesh (Blue Star SC), Daniel Gomez (Blue Star SC), Mohamed Aakib (Colombo FC), Abdul Basith (Colombo FC), Shabeer Razooniya (Colombo FC), Muhammadh Shakir (Colombo FC), Rifkhan Mohamed (Defenders FC), Nuwan Gimhana (Defenders FC), Sasanga Dilhara (Defenders FC), Brian Weerappuli (Matara City Club), Bathurtheen Thasleem (New Star SC), Chathuranga Fernando (New Youngs FC), Rumesh Mendis (New Youngs FC), Lakshan Dananjaya (New Youngs FC), Kavin Sucharith (New Youngs FC), Mariyanesan Pirasanth (Ratnam SC), Muhamed Murshid (Ratnam SC), Varatharaja Jaksan (Ratnam SC), Mohamed Mushfir (Renown SC), Mohamed Sajid (Renown SC), Mohamed Aman (Renown SC), Raza Rumy (Renown SC), Asela Madushan (Sea Hawks FC), Avishka Deshan (Sea Hawks FC), Udayanga Perera (Sea Hawks FC), Mohamed Kurshith (Sea Hawks FC), Dhananjaya de Silva (Sea Hawks FC), Avishka Kavindu (Sea Hawks FC), Shishan Prabudda (SL Police SC), Hashika Nawoda (SL Police SC), Pathum Vimukthi (Up Country Lions) and Kannan Thenushan (Uruthirapuran SC)