National men’s football team go into two-week training camp

THE national men’s football squad have convened for a two-week camp in Port Moresby with training scheduled to kick off today at Papua New Guinea Football Stadium.
PNG Football Association general secretary Pius Letenge told The National yesterday that the camp would run till Dec 22 before players were released for the festive season.
“Head coach Marcos Gusmao will be joining the squad next week (after post-travel quarantine),” he said.
“We will then discuss our options of teams for trial matches against the national team.
“When he joins the camp, he will trim the 30-man squad to 23 players for the World Cup regional qualifiers in Qatar. Gusmao wanted the national team to have more domestic trials before scheduling international friendlies, so we have come up with options for the side.
“We will either have a youth or National Soccer League side play the team. Another option is the association president’s 11 where John Kapi Natto will select a coach and players for a trial match.
“We have also come up with a wider option to have a youth side face the national team. The youth team will comprise players who were part of the Under-16 national squad that competed in the 2018 regional playoff in the Solomon Islands for the Fifa U17 World Cup (2019).”