It’s only ten more days before the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone A Tournament kicks-off.
The young lions are in high spirits for the competition which serves also as a qualifier for the U17 AFCON Tanzania 2019.
It will be the lions second time at this continental football showpiece. The Senegalese team has the advantage of playing at home although some analysts believe players, who perform at home, generally undergo enormous pressure.
The U17 squad coach, Malick Daff, has dubbed the pending tournament as “an opportunity” for his boys, and the football authorities say adequate preparations have taken place to showcase the young lions on the continental stage.
The team has been in camp for the past five months at the Toubab Dialaw Jules François Bocande Technical Center outside, Dakar, preparing for the tournament.
Several friendly matches were also played during this time including against Japan, Spain and Paraguay to test the ability of the team. The latest of the friendly matches was against the Mauritania U17 team when the lions won by three goals to zero.
« Now, there are only a few days left before the WAFU tournament, and we are patching the weaknesses on the team. The team is in place and we are ready to meet the challenge of winning the trophy” Daff said. The U17 captain, Mouhamadou Moustapha Diaw, hopes his team can set a new record, by offering Senegal its first trophy at an AFCON.
Seeing as a major stepping stone to Tanzania 2019, Diaw says he and his teammates will do their outmost best to win the WAFU Zone A 2018 tournament and continue the adventure in Africa in a few months, in Tanzania 2019.