VIDEO: Shield trials give local youngsters an opportunity

Five Pretoria players could find themselves training with Chelsea in London.

June 11, 2018

Eliot Mahlase 1 minute read

Shield trials in Hatfield. Photo: Eliot Mahlase

Five amateur soccer players were chosen at the Shield Sbonis’ iDiski Regional trials on Saturday to compete for an opportunity to train with Chelsea FC in London later this year.

The five players were chosen at the high-performance centre in Hatfield to join 20 other players who have since been selected from across the country.

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The 25 selected players will then compete for an opportunity to train with Chelsea in September.

Former Bafana Bafana defender Siphiwe Mkhonza said only three of the 25 players would get a chance to train with the London club, while one of them would score a year contract with the Orlando Pirates FC Development Team.

“As a coach, I’m looking more at technique, speed, game intelligence and personality when I scout a player. For me, your knowledge of the game says a lot about a player,” he said.

During the first sessions of training, Mkhonza said he was a little disappointed with what he had seen, but was hopeful that the players were going to step up.

“It feels like some of the players are scared of failing, which maybe stopped them from going all out. We will see in this round of training what they have to offer.”

“For them, life begins now, we will help them identify their strengths and weaknesses,” Mkhonza said.

The regional trail consisted of various elements such as full match competitions that work on strategy, team concept technical evaluation and tactical evaluation aspects, individual assertiveness, composure, decision making, game intelligence, positional awareness, finishing and shot stopping.

Among the coaches was former Bafana Bafana defender Mark Fish, who is based in Pretoria.

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