Trialists in the Durban Under 19 International Football Tournament Training Camp have one more hurdle to overcome before the final team of 20 players is announced on Saturday.
With only two days of the training camp left, the hopefuls have upped their game and the level of competition is very high with the hope of securing a place in the final squad that will play against six Under 19 teams from various international leagues in the Under 19 International Football Tournament in July this year. The participating teams are Everton Football Club, Associazione Sportiva Roma, Sporting Lisboa e Benfica, Feyenoord, Club Atletico Boca Juniors, Santos Futebol Clube and the South African Football Association’s Under 19 National Team
As we enter the home stretch of the training camp, out of 106 trialists who reported for the camp only 36 players are remaining following today’s elimination of 70 players. After today, players will have three more training sessions to impress the technical team and to secure places in the final squad.
The scouting process started in January this year when the scouting team travelled the length and breadth of the KwaZulu-Natal Province’s eleven districts looking for talent. During the scouting period the team inspected about 3000 players who were trimmed down to 123 players that were invited for this camp.
Paulo Cardoso, Head of the Technical Team said at this stage of the camp it becomes difficult to eliminate players and the fact that they made it to the last 50 means that they are talented.
“This proves that the Province is rich with talented young footballers. It does not mean that the players that we eliminate are not talented it is just that they do not meet the profile we are looking for in the upcoming international football tournament,” said Cardoso.
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