Final stop for Ke Yona Team Search
Final stop for Nedbank Ke Yona Team Search at rand Stadium.
A crowd of prospective players made their way to the Rand Stadium, in the early hous of Saturday morning, May 30, to be in time for the final intake of the Nedbank Ke Yona Team Search. Players lined up from as early as 04:00 in the morning to be in time for the opening at 07:00.
For Shakes Mashaba (Bafana Bafana head coach), Mike Mangena, Khabo Zondo and Owen Da Gama, it has been quite a challenging task, traveling to five different provinces across the country and searching for talented soccer players.
According to Zondo, he was looking forward to seeing the skillful players which Gauteng is well known for.
“We are approaching the final phase of the team search after travelling to different parts of the country. The Gauteng tryouts will be quite tough, especially for the midfield players as this is where most of our midfielders were unearthed in the past two years,” said Zondo.
In last year’s Nedbank Ke Yona Team Search, six players from the Gauteng province made it into the final squad, including midfield maestro Morgan van Rooyen, who now plays for Santos FC and was voted man of the match during an encounter with last year’s Nedbank Cup champions, Orlando Pirates.
The final 48 players will be announced in due time. A bootcamp will be held and then the players will be gradually trimmed down to 25. The final 18-man Ke Yona team will take on this year’s Nedbank Cup champions, Mamelodi Sundowns. The match will take place in the latter part of the year.
