In the Aztex continuing quest to find young talent, President Phil Rawlins and director Gary Mellor recently made a scouting trip to Senegal. They were the guests of Salif Diao, who was a past captain of the Senegal national team and is currently a first-team player of Aztex affiliate, Stoke City.
Rawlins and Mellor arrived in Senegal late in the evening and were up early the next morning to beat the sun and heat. Accompanied by two national youth coaches from Senegal, in one of the few stadiums in Dakar designed for 15,000 people, they watched five scrimmages between kids ages 15-16 from Dakar, St. Louis and Kedegou.
"The standard of play was very impressive and there were some really talented kids there," Rawlins said after the first day.
On Day 2, the best players from the previous day, along with two under-19 teams, met in the national stadium.
"They were also very impressed and had identified no more than nine potential national team players at U16 and U19 levels,” said Rawlins. “I hope that in the near future we can look forward to a couple of these young players coming to the Aztex to further their soccer development."
