JEDDAH, 13 July 2005 — Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, approved the list of national team probables that will join the training camp scheduled to start in Malaysia on Aug. 1.

The training camp will be the Saudi team’s final preparation for the Aug. 17 final Asian World Cup qualifying match against South Korea. Among other changes in the lineup is the return of star midfielder Nawaf Al-Tumyat after an absence of one year for treatment of his injury.

Also making a return is Al-Shabab striker Naji Majrashi. Stricken from the new list were five names that were included in the Kingdom’s last two matches against Kuwait and Uzbekistan.

Among the five is Saudi team captain and Al-Hilal striker Sami Al-Jaber who is to be sidelined due to injury. According to doctors, the player needs at least one month to recover from his injury. Sami is expected to join the national team training camp at the end of August.

Muhammad Al-Shalhoub, national team and Hilal midfielder, has also been excluded due to injury. Abdul Aziz Al-Khathran of Hilal and Ittihad defender Hamad Al-Muntashiri and Ibrahim Suwaid will not join the national team in the training camp due to exhaustion.

Before the Saudi match against Uzbekistan, Al-Ahli’s Hussein Abdul Ghani and Al-Ittihad’s Manaf Abu Shgeer had been excused from the national team respectively due to family matters and injury.

Chelsea’s Kenyon in

Lyon for Essien Talks

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was in Lyon, France, yesterday to try to persuade the club to let Ghana midfielder Michael Essien join the English champions, a Lyon official said, Reuters adds.

Kenyon will meet Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas for talks after Essien said he wanted to leave, the official said.

Aulas told reporters that he had received a lucrative offer from Chelsea but was still hoping he could convince Essien to stay with the French champions. “It’s difficult to resist but Michael is not for sale,” Aulas said.

“We will do everything to keep him.”

Essien said he wanted to go to Chelsea. “I want to leave,” the player was quoted as saying by French sports daily L’Equipe.