Durban soccer showpiece returns
It has been a long road for most, but for the final 20 players to represent the KwaZulu-Natal Academy XI in this prestigious international tournament this marks the beginning of a football dream they all have waited to see come true.
After months of trials, and participating and winning the U19 Selection Provincial Tournament with a provisional squad, Hoy Park Management Ltd, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government, eThekwini Municipality in partnership the South African Football Association today revealed a new crop of KZN Academy Players to take part in this prestigious tournament.
Led by the well accomplished local coach Scelo Qwabe, the team will compete in Group A of the competition along with English giants Arsenal, leading Scottish side Glasgow Celtic and current Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven, giving these youngsters a taste of what it is like to play against some of the top junior teams in the world.
“We have gone through intense training schedule in the past few weeks and final preparations are going well. The boys are looking forward to the opening match; there is a lot of excitement coming from them. We are ready for this assignment.” said Qwabe.
“This is an excellent tournament to prepare players for professional football,” Qwabe added. “And for the South African teams, ourselves and the SA Under 19, it is the perfect opportunity to see where we stand on the global stage. We will get a good sense of whether we have closed the gap against top international teams, or where we need to improve to do so.”
The KwaZulu-Natal Academy XI will play their opener against PSV Eindhoven on 29 July, before tackling Arsenal on 31 July. Their final match will be against Celtic on 2 August, when they will hope to finish in the top two in the pool and advance to the semi-finals.
The other four sides in the competition in Group B are a South African Under-19 side, Italian side AC Milan, VfB Stuttgart from Germany and Turkish club Galatasary.
Games start at 15h00 and 17h15 respectively.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
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