2014 has kicked off with the start of the Castle Lager Superstars 2014 Campaign where 45 SAB League players were selected from the Together For Tomorrow’s Bafana soccer talent scouting initiative and invited to Johannesburg for a weekend of trials from the 3- 6th of January with 23 hopefuls being selected for the final team; the Castle Superstars.
The 45 hopefuls arrived in Johannesburg for the training camp on Friday, 3 January 2014 and have undergone extensive training supervised by South African soccer legends Phil Masinga and Neil Tovey as well as four other top coaches.
“The three day trials have been quite involving for the 45 youngsters. We have taken them through various types of training sessions and all of them have shown a lot of promise as future soccer stars, however our task was to come up with the top 23 players and we are confident that the list we have come up with is the cream of the crop, and deserve to be part of the Castle Superstars team. They definitely have the potential to be tomorrow’s Bafana,” explained Phil Masinga.
He added that , the standard of talent that has been seen through this year’s scouting process is significantly higher than that of last year and he is quite excited aboutthe potential of what they will be able to achieve. The Castle Lager Superstars represent some of the elite local soccer talent aged between 18 and 21 and will continue with the development camp until 20 January 2014.
The players that have been chosen for the 23 player Castle Lager Super Star camp are: Thulane Motau, Cyril Mollo, Pule Moeleti, Abrahams Swarts, Lebohang Nkaki, Chase Parsons, Thamisang Gwabeni, Gerald Modisane, Tiesetso Lebelo, Theko Thako, Nkosinathi Nkosi, Sandile Zondi, Ayanda Makua, Sonke Ntuli, Sibusiso Mahlangu, Karl Clements, Nhlanhla Nyembe, Pule Mmodi, Siphamandla Dlamini, Vusi Mofokeng, Lehlonololo Marumo and Deolin Mekoa.
The Superstars will camp at Milpark Garden Court and JCE Sports fields and play matches against NFD and PSL teams.
On the 9th of January the team played First Division side Roses United losing 2-1 and then a follow up game on Sunday against Supersport United, losing 3-0.
The SuperStars matched Matasatsantsa in the opening stanza with the back fourth goal attempts with Supersport netting their first goal late into the first half. Matsatsanta upped the ante following the interval, adding two more goals as the youngsters started to tire.
“I thought we were impressive at times. I still have to drill a few bad habits out of them, but I thought the team stood with SuperSport United,” SuperStars coach Neil Tovey said following the encounter.
“I thought for a team that has only been together for five odd days and to come and play against the professionals of SuperSport, we did immensely well. We created opportunities, just with better common sense and a bit of thinking we could’ve gotten something out of it.”
The Castle Lager SuperStars next face the University of Pretoria at Tuks Stadium on Wednesday morning and Tovey feels the youngsters will improve if they concentrate on the basics.
“As long as the players keep on learning, concentrate on the basics of the game and keep the shape we will improve,” concluded the former Bafana Bafana skipper.