Wales Football - dragonsoccer - Welsh International Football

Brian Flynn's new look Under 17 side drew 2-2 against Sweden.

Wales took the lead after just seven minutes thanks to an excellent finish from Tom O'Sullivan. Sweden hit back straight away with goals from Christian Koukaou and Philip Olofsson. Wales hit back with Declan John making it 2-2 after only 15 minutes.

With no further scoring during the match, honours were even at the final whistle.

Wales line up:
1 Luke Flemming (Cardiff City)
2 Declan Weeks (Wolves)
3 Curtis Strong (Stoke City)
4 Gethin Jones (Everton) (c)
5 Declan Dalley (Manchester United)
6 Tom Attyeo (Swansea City)
7 Miles John (Bristol City)
8 Tom O'Sullivan (Cardiff City)
9 Rhys James (Cardiff City)
10 Jaye Bowen (Cardiff City)
11 Declan John (Cardiff City)
Subs:
12 Alex Lynch (Peterborough United)
13 Curtis Watkins (Cardiff City)
14 Deion Evans (Shrewsbury Town)
15 Callum Saunders (Crewe Alexandra)
16 Jake Charles (Huddersfield Town)
17 Gethyn Hill (Cardiff City)
18 Bradley Reid (Wrexham)

updated: Tue, 10 May, 2011 22:08 UK.

Intermediate Teams manager, Brian Flynn, has named his squad for two end of season friendly matches against Sweden.

The matches are set to be played at Buckley Town FC on Tuesday 10th May (kick off 6pm) and Flint Town United FC on Thursday 12th May (kick off 6pm). Admission is free at both games.

Wales squad:
Alex Lynch – Wrexham, Corey Stephens - Cardiff City, Declan Weeks – Wolves, Declan Dalley - Manchester United, Curtis Watkins - Cardiff City, Curtis Strong - Stoke City, Tom Attyeo - Swansea City, Miles John - Bristol City , Gethin Jones – Everton, Deion Evans - Tranmere Rovers, Tom O’Sullivan - Cardiff City, Jaye Bowen - Cardiff City, Declan John - Cardiff City, Jake Charles - Huddersfield Town, Rhys James - Cardiff City, Callum Saunders - Crewe Alexandra, Gethyn Hill - Cardiff City, Bradley Reid – Wrexham.

Stand by players: Luke Flemming - Cardiff City, Daniel Barrow - Plymouth Argyle, Rob Evans – Wrexham, Chike Kandi - Birmingham City, Josh Yorwerth - Cardiff City.

Famous faces in this squad are Jake Charles (grandson of John Charles) and Callum Saunders (son of former Welsh International Dean Saunders)

updated: Thu, 28 April, 2011 15:25 UK.

Wales will play two Under 17 friendly matches against Sweden in North Wales during early May 2011.

Wales fixtures:
Tuesday 10th May 2011 at Buckley Town FC.
Thursday 12th May 2011 at Flint Town United FC.

Both matches kick off at 6pm, admission is free.

The games will feature players who are eligible for 2011/2012 UEFA Under 17 qualifying matches, these games set to be played in October. Wales have been drawn in Group 9 with Serbia, Armenia and Lithuania.

posted: Wed, 20 April, 2011 16:46 UK.

Welsh Assembly government funding issues were raised and fans have asked why the WRU seem to get far more financial support than the national football team, Mark explained that this is not as big a difference as what it appears and Welsh football gets a lot of support in community initiatives and especially the Welsh football trust, but it was agreed that the FAW need to match the WRU in the work they put in to acquire grant funding. This is something that they are looking at and will be more proactive in the future.

We asked them to explain the benefits of the new centre at Newport and why that City was chosen over other venues especially those in north or mid Wales? It was explained that tenders were put out and the Newport city council pulled all the stops out to get the centre located in the city, the advantages of the M4 corridor will obviously be a plus point and it is hoped the centre will benefit Welsh football for many years to come. It will be a joint venture and the Football Association of Wales, Welsh Football Trust and Newport City Council aim to build the venue. The centre would develop the under-21, women's and younger age-group squads.

Membership issues and costs have been a constant irritation to the fans and we asked what the plans are for future membership schemes. Lucy suggested that they were looking at a lower price for renewals next year and fans can upgrade to Gold or Silver, the membership price will stay the same for new members and will always remain open until it reaches a level where the member benefits cannot be operated.

The data gathered from the membership scheme and from ticket sales to new customers in the kickback scheme must be put to good use and the FSF have put forward an expert in that field to meet with the marketing department later this month, hopefully progress can be made and marketing opportunities for the FAW can be improved.

One question asked by the fans is the terrible ranking position we find ourselves in and what is being done to improve this, it seems a silly question but Mark said that they were very concerned and plans were in place to get better quality friendly matches in the future, playing teams ranked below us was pointless and the other obvious answer was to help develop new Welsh talent and the Newport centre was part of that plan.

Concerns were raised amongst fans of the club rivalries raising their head at the England match and the fact three coach loads of fans were absent from the game after some problems in the city centre pre match…the FSF had received a letter via the human rights organisation "Liberty" from one of those fans that said he was refused the opportunity to see the game. Wayne said that the police were well aware of possible risk supporters entering the city and were well on top of everything…the fans mentioned were allowed access to a pub and were told that if they split up in to small groups they could continue on to the game but they decided against this and left the city.

Wayne also informed us that despite pre match concerns everyone was very pleased with the event day, over 100,000 fans had come into the capital and there were only 13 arrests in total and 8 of those was for ticket touting (part of an Olympic games police preparation initiative). There were minor scuffles in parts of the stadium but in general it was a good, safe event.

Neil Dymock brought up the Gol initiatives and explained about the fans' teams and the success they had been in bringing fans together. We have another fans tournament in Dublin next month and once again Carling has been outstanding in sponsoring the event.

Neil mentioned that the charity work had enabled them to arrange trips for 4 Montenegran Orphans to attend the Wales game against Montenegro and he also had plans for more orphans to attend the Welsh cup final, this is not a Gol initiative however but work done in conjunction with Llanelli FC. The FAW said that they would continue to support these ventures and supply signed shirts and raffle prizes to help fund raising.

The Bulgaria match is almost definitely in Sofia but still not confirmed, the last two home games will be played at the Liberty stadium and Cardiff City stadium (details available soon) there are thousands of vouchers sent out to clubs in the kickback scheme offering half price tickets for one of these games. Dublin prices have been confirmed..

The prices for the remaining Carling Nations Cup games have been confirmed today, 20 Euro each for our fans so we will sell at £18.00 each. We'd hoped there would be a concession for juniors for the May games but unfortunately there isn't. It's only for the ROI fans buying via general sale.

The FAW will get application forms sent out to Gold and Silver members in the next week or so, may take longer with the bank holidays

Road shows will continue with Jonathan Ford visiting many areas over the next few months.