Durban U19 International Football Tourney underway
Entry to all the matches is free.
IT’S all systems go for the third instalment of the Durban U19 International Football Tournament to be held in Durban from Thursday, 28 July to Saturday, 6 August.
English giants, Arsenal Football Club, which is in Group A was the first team to arrive in Durban to defend the Durban U19 International Football Tournament title. They arrived on Tuesday, 26 July, and will play their first match against the KZN Academy XI at King Zwelithini Stadium on Thursday, 28 July at 4.30pm. The South African side, Lamontville Golden Arrows, will play against the Sporting Lisbon of Portugal at 2.15pm.
“The famous Brazilian side, Fluminense Football Club, arrived on Wednesday, 27 July and they didn’t waste time as they went straight to training to prepare for their Group B opening encounter against TP Mazembe at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Friday, 29 July at 2.15pm.
Fluminense was followed by the arrival of Sporting Lisbon, South Africa National U19 and Glasgow Rangers FC. The National U19 team will battle with Glasgow Rangers at 4.30pm at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Friday,” said eThekwini Municipality’s Head of Communication, Tozi Mthethwa.
eThekwini mayor, James Nxumalo, said the city was thrilled to host the third installment of the tournament which has proved to be the breeding ground for great players.
“As the city, we have put measures in place to ensure the smooth running of the tournament. I want to urge the people of eThekwini to come out in numbers to support the participating teams. For the past two years the tournament finals were played at Moses Mabhida Stadium, this year we took a decision that the final match should be played at King Zwelithini Stadium so that the games are brought closer to the people,” said Nxumalo.
The Goalkeeper Coach of Arsenal Football Club, Jayson Brown, said that they were excited to be part of the tournament again.
“We are back in South Africa to defend our title and we have brought back some of the players that participated in the tournament last year to ensure consistency. We had our first training at Moses Mabhida outfields today and our boys are both physically and mentally fit for their opening match against the host KZN Academy XI,” said Brown.
