Kerr cranks up his troops

In a seemingly never-ending cycle of competition, Brian Kerr's Republic of Ireland under-17 youth team are finalising their preparations for the prestigious Meridian Cup which begins in Cape Town, South Africa, tomorrow.

A joint venture between UEFA and CAF (Confederation Africaine de Football), the tournament, now in its second year, was devised to promote the development of world youth football.

Eight teams, four from each continent, take part. Split into two groups, Ireland is represented by the team that won the UEFA Under-16 Championship in Scotland last May and is joined by Spain, hosts South Africa and Egypt in Group A.

In what, on paper, looks the tougher group, Nigeria, winners of the inaugural Meridian Cup held in Portugal last year, are in with Ghana, Italy and Portugal.

"This in a way is this team's World Cup, as they may not get to play in one for two years, if at all," said Kerr. "They are over-age for this year's under-17 World Cup, but of course will be next year's under-18s. The under-19 World Cup of 2001 is a long way off, so this is their reward for winning in Scotland.

"It's a very good quality tournament with the top four in Europe and the top four in Africa and we're very keen to do well in it."

Kerr believes he has potentially a stronger squad than was in Scotland, but stresses that Graham Barrett, who cried off last week with a back injury, will be a loss. He is replaced by Huddersfield Town's Dwayne Mattis.

"It remains to be seen how well they do. It is the first time most of the Scotland squad have been back together," said Kerr. "In Israel we had the basis of it, but didn't have O'Shea, Foy or Reid, who were all main players when we won in Scotland."

New additions to this squad are goalkeeper Oaijdi (pronounced "Wez-dee") Abdelaziz and striker Glenn Fitzpatrick.

Abdelaziz's, whose father is Tunisian, qualifies through his Dublin-born mother. He plays for Dutch first division club FC Haarlem. Fitzpatrick, 18 yesterday, has had an excellent season with UCD in the Premier Division of the National League.

The three other players in this squad who didn't feature in Scotland are Dundalk-born Bryan McCrystal (Leeds United), Gary Dempsey (Everton) and Thomas Butler (Sunderland).

McCrystal played his way into the squad after doing well in Israel last month, having gone as a late call-up. Dempsey and Butler, both highly skilful midfield players, would have been in Scotland but for injury.