By Nick Creely
Soccer history continues to be made in the south-east with the Dandenong City Under 15 Boys team becoming the first City side to qualify for the internationally renowned Kanga Cup.
The Kanga Cup, which is the biggest international youth football tournament in the southern hemisphere, hosts team from countries such as Malaysia, India, Fiji, South Africa, Korea, Georgia, England, China, New Zealand, the USA, Indonesia and East Timor, begins on Monday 3 July in Canberra.
All up, the tournament hosts upwards of 350 teams.
The tournament was founded in 1991 in Sydney before becoming based in Canberra in 1993.
The inaugural Kanga Cup in ’91 had just 35 participating teams, with that figure rising to 375 in last year’s tournament.
The City boys have only recently started playing together and the majority of the team are in their first season of NPL football.
Although the ultimate aim is to win the tournament, the experience of playing in an international tournament will aid the development of the talented youngsters.
Dandenong City Under 15 Boys will be coached by Dave Van Ete.
Dandenong City organiser Naumka Petreski said a lot of hard work and dedication has gone into allowing the boys the opportunity to play in such a prestigious tournament.
“It’s a once in lifetime experience for the boys – you don’t really do this a lot with international teams,” she said.
“We have done a lot of running around to make this happen for the boys.”
It continues on a stunning season of success for the club, with the seniors in NPL 2 East sitting on top of the table.
To follow the progress of the City youngsters, head to kangacup.com.
