Alex lad off to Netherlands with AmaTuks
ALEXANDRA - An Alexandra footballer playing for the University of Pretoria will be one of the team's player jetting off for the Netherlands as part of the reward for clinching the inaugural MultiChoice Diski Challenge.
An Alexandra footballer playing for the University of Pretoria will be one of the team’s players jetting off for the Netherlands as part of the reward for clinching the inaugural MultiChoice Diski Challenge.
The diski challenge was launched last August as a reserve league of the fringe players of the Premier Soccer League’s Absa Premierships sides. Besides winning the trophy, the victors were also offered a football trip to be coached and play against top sides in Holland.
In the final of the challenge, AmaTuks beat fellow Tshwane side, Mamelodi Sundowns, 2-1 on penalties after the sides were level with one goal apiece in the ninety, in a match played at the Nike Football Training Centre in Pimville, Soweto, on 28 February.
Itumeleng ‘Smenza’ Nkwana, a former Alex United player who was born in 15th Avenue but grew up in Lombardy West when his parents moved home, will be among the players making the week-long trip to the Netherlands on 21 March.
Though it would not be his first time in a aeroplane and going overseas, Nkwana, 23, who carved his footballing career as a youngster at Alexandra’s Sheffield United FC, said he looks forward to the trip which he hopes will further sharpen his soccer skills.
“I am looking forward to this trip as I hope to learn a thing or two from top coaches of top sides in that country. I am confident the trip will enhance my footballing career. As like any other player, I am also dreaming of one day playing for top sides in top leagues overseas and I see this trip as part of the building blocks for a possible move abroad,” Nkwana said.
He is no stranger to aeroplanes and trips overseas and was part of the Balfour Park Alexandra Football Club team of U11 players that travelled to Sweden for the Goghia Cup 12 years ago. “I am currently enjoying my spell with AmaTuks and hope this will be a stepping stone to a lucrative career in football,” said Nkwana who hopes to register soon for a business administration degree at the University of Pretoria.
