The head coach of The Gambia U-17 team,  Tarik Siaggy, is yet to name his final list for a planned international training camp in England - as part of final preparations for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria - but the Egyptian has already started to decamp players he deemed unfit for the team.

Sources close to the team have it that at least 11 members of the 18-man squad that won the African U-17 Cup in Algeria were giving the axe in what could be described as the first phase of a massive dropping exercise, which comes barely a week after the players underwent a FIFA mandatory tests to determine their ages.

Goalkeeper duo Musa Camara and Famara Bojang, strikers Alasana Camara and Abdoulie Jatta, defenders Abdou Njie and Matarr Jobe are among the players dropped last weekend.

A frantic effort by Observer Sports to ascertain whether the decision to screen the players was based on the results of the tests or performance grounds proved futile.

Unlike Nigeria, The Gambia football authorities have insisted that the result of the age test will not be made public.

The secretary general of the Gambia Football Association, Jammeh Bojang, disclosed that the results of the MRI test was not for public consumption and that he and all the officials of the GFA would protect the integrity of the players.

Observer Sports has learnt that 33 players are presently in camp, albeit only 26 players would be needed for the UK training camp, which will see the Baby Scorpions engage in friendlies against Chelsea, Reading and Portsmouth Academies when they leave Banjul on Friday, September 26.

The Gambians will also play against Tottenham Hotspur Academy on October 10 and play their last game in the UK on October 15 against Leicester City, before returning to Banjul on October 17 to round up their build-up for the Nigeria finals starting on October 24.

All of the 26 players will be vying for one of 21 places on the final World Cup roster.

The Gambia who will be making their second appearance in the age-category competition have been paired in Group C alongside Iran, Colombia and Holland.

The Baby Scorpions will open their group  account with a match against Iran on October 25, before facing fellow second-timers Holland in second group match on October 28.

The Baby Scorpions will close out the first round against Colombia on October 31.