Pair fly Central flag high in Barcelona showpiece

Two East London Central Local Football Association youngsters are proving their worth at Barcelona Summer Youth Cup, an annual international youth tournament which is held in the south of Barcelona annually.

The duo from Central, Inganathi Lose and Juliano Botha are part of the Northern Areas Football Association (Nafa) team from PE.

Nafa assembles an U16 squad every year for the tournament and this year they invited Central to contribute two players and the golden boys have done exceptionally well so far.

Botha, from Pefferville who was the top goalscorer at InterDistricts Games in 2017 in PE, and Lose, who was selected by a local-based German Uefa qualified coach and volunteer at the LFA Lass Voges, have impressed their hosts.

Nafa finished top of their group in the tournament, and Botha have scored four goals in the four games played – including quarterfinals where his late equaliser took Nafa to the semifinals, where they were knocked out by NJ Stallions FC from the US.

Lose provided two assists for Juliano’s goals.

Unfortunately, due to accumulation of yellow cards Botha will not play in Nafa’s last game of the tournament which is 3rd/4th place playoff.

“Juliano is a fantastic striker and we will miss him in this crucial game,” said Shareen Brood, Nafa coach.

“Juliano was the third highest goalscorer in the tournament with four goals and by far Nafa’s top goalscorer,” said Central vice-president for youth and development, Vuyo Zambodla.

He said they were proud to have produced such players and they were set to return to East London on Sunday.

“This tournament has been great exposure for the two boys, our LFA and for Buffalo City Metro. And we thank all the clubs and community of our LFA who dug deep into their pockets to make this trip possible,” said Zambodla.