SUVA – Members of the Fiji U20 soccer team bound for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) U-20 Men’s Championship next month in Tahiti have exchanged football boots with books as they take time off from training to concentrate on their external school examinations.

The squad currently in camp at the Dr Sahu Khan academy in Ba comprises mainly of students who are in forms six and seven.

Fiji team director, Rajesh Patel said they always made it a priority to look after the educational welfare of the players while they were in camp so their academic future is not affected and are giving the players all the time to concentrate on the exams.

“The boys are having examinations and the management has been looking after them very well in terms of their welfare and this gives them a lot of time to concentrate on their examinations.

“We always ensure the boys get ample time for studies and do not want any distractions to their studies that’s why we did not allow the main national team to camp at the academy as their presence would have somewhat disturbed the boys.

“The qualifiers are just a month away and we will really get back to business once the students complete their examinations as we are racing against time and need to field a competitive team which can do wonders at the qualifiers” added Patel.

The Fiji U-20 squad comprises of players like Suva’s Esava Naqeleca and Filimone Bolatawa, Lautoka’s Zibraaz Sahib and Samuela Drudru, Nadi’s Vinit Nadan, Navua’s Monit Chand, Labasa’s Amani Makoe and Rewa’s Ranjesh Prasad, Nasoni Mereke and James McKay.

Fiji finished runners-up to New Zealand at the last OFC U-20 Men’s Championship held at Trusts Stadium in Henderson last year with Roy Krishna winning the golden boot award scoring 8 goals. New Zealand’s Chris James finished second with six strikes to his name as the Kiwis qualified for the FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup – Canada 2007.

Fiji’s match with New Zealand attracted a crowd of 4000 spectators as Stu Jacobs’ charges edged Fiji 3-2 in a controversial and pulsating encounter. Fiji had earlier defeated Samoa (7-0), Vanuatu (2-0), Solomon Islands (3-0), New Caledonia (2-1).

New Zealand’s last gasp win over New Caledonia was enough to see the Kiwis home after Fiji stumbled in its final match of the section when it lost to Tahiti (0-2) in a major upset.

The OFC U-20 Men’s Championship kicks-off on December 13-19, 2008.

Story provided by Fijilive Sports. For more visit www.fijilive.com/sports