HUNT FOR STARS Top three young SA players wanted in Barcelona
JOHAN Neeskens and Benni Mccarthy have teamed up to pick three young talents to represent the country in Barcelona, Spain, in August.
The Mamelodi Sundowns coach and Orlando Pirates striker were picked as scouts for a nationwide search – The Chance – to find the best three amateur footballers aged 16 to 20.
They then have to prepare them at a football camp for the trip to Spain.
Finally Barcelona FC coach Pep Guardiola will choose the last young player standing in August, who will get a two-month deal at the Nike Academy and will then get to fight for a contract with a European powerhouse.
The legendary Neeskens, who played for Barcelona in the ’ 70s, and Mccarthy, Bafana’s all-time top goal- scorer, will head the local camp after a short list of 50 players have been selected from the regional trials.
The project’s success story last year, former BIDVEST Wits junior goalkeeper Reyaad Pieterse, joined the Nike Academy in the UK and has recently signed a contract with Ireland-based Shamrock Rovers.
Two ex-bafana players, Shaun Bartlett and Tebogo Moloi, will direct the countrywide search in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth in June.
Neeskens, in South Africa since July last year after signing a three-year contract to coach Sundowns, says though he does not want to compare European footballers with their African counterparts, he is impressed with what he has seen here.
“The players here are already good technical players and enjoy ball possession. To top it off, some of the facilities here aren’t as good as in Barcelona, so imagine what they will do when they show what they can do over there,” Neeskens says.
“In Europe the players ... start practising on that kind of pitch from an early age, and by the time they are older they are much better.
“But I believe we are going to find some very intelligent youngsters in our search.”
Mccarthy is South Africa’s success story. His journey from the Cape Flats to Ajax Amsterdam when he was only 19 set him up for stardom.
“I didn’t have as much talent as some of my friends, but when they told me I had the potential to be better, I worked extra hard,” says Mccarthy, who won a European Champions League medal with Portuguese side Porto FC in 2004.
“When I moved abroad and experienced all the culture shocks, I had no one really advising me. But I wanted to make it so I stuck it out.
“Things have changed for African players in Europe now,” he says.
Mccarthy advises The Chance hopefuls to start learning Spanish because “the people there appreciate it... your teammates also appreciate it and it’s easier to handle the culture shock”.