The Sun came out from the get go on the second full day of NSR Kanga Cup action, and teams responded with some fantastic football that matched the Sun’s intensity. Despite the sunny conditions, the Kambah fields were held to ransom by a chilly breeze, but that was not enough to stop the Canberra FC U/16 Girls as they scored in the last two minutes to remain undefeated so far. You can here from their coach Nikola and goalscorer Eliana over at our Facebook page!
Mitchell Keenan and Matt Nicoletti made their way around the grounds on Tuesday and had a chat to a few different people.
History in the making: Global girls take on the Kanga Cup
By Mitchell Keenan
Each year the Kanga Cup is growing and expanding, as more teams decide to make the trip to Canberra and we have seen teams travel from 18 countries worldwide to compete, but this year there are six teams that have made history in the 26th edition of the tournament.
It has been a tradition over a number of years now for clubs from New Zealand and South Korea to come to Canberra for the Kanga Cup, but this year is the first year that we have seen female competitors hailing from overseas.
Coming from Korea, YeSung have brought a total of three squads to compete in the U/14, U/16 and U/18 cup competitions, and they have made a strong impression, winning every game they have played so far.
The remaining competitors represent three different teams from New Zealand, as Nomads United Warriors and Halswell United AFC are challengers for the U/14 cup, and Parklands United have been noble opponents in the U/16 cup.
Day two of the competition saw two of the history making teams face off in what was an exhilarating affair, as YeSung’s U/14 side defeated a resilient Halswell United AFC 3-2 in Harrison.
Going ahead early, Halswell took their well drilled opponents by surprise, but YeSung claimed victory with a late penalty to remain undefeated after 4 games in the first two days.
YeSung coach Eun Ji Seo expressed her excitement in making history being part of their first Kanga Cup.
“It is a new experience for us to be in Canberra, it is a great occasion for the team and it is a great honour to be one of the first international girl’s teams competing in the Kanga Cup,” she said.
Co-coaches at Halswell United, Craig Crawford and Craig Wynham have been very happy with their performances at the tournament so far, coming into the Kanga Cup looking for a further challenge for their talented squad.
“Up until today we have gone 25 games without being beaten. We’ve just been beaten and we can’t think of a better team to have lost our record against,” said Wynham.
“That’s why we’re over here, to challenge ourselves. The bar has been raised and now we can set a bar for these girls to keep on improving their game,” said Crawford.
The two sides sit first and second in the U/14 cup, and with one game each before the finals they may just find themselves facing off once again later on in the week.
Academy youngsters hope for future pathway
By Matt Nicoletti
With a detailed A-League bid already tabled above them at the club, the Brisbane City Academy hope that the Kanga Cup can be just the start of a pathway for their talented youngsters.
Coach of the U/10 side, Matt Edgar, believes the clubs future can be built the right way through competing in tournaments like the Kanga Cup.
Edgar’s side are competing in the Under 10’s Cup competition.
“Since our A-League bid we are looking forward to getting into more tournaments, both nationally and internationally as well,” Edgar said.
“We have some quality boys and a quality set up, so in theory we have a good chance of getting that (the A-League team).”
“The boys love it [prospect of an A-League side), I want to see the A-League spread across the board and after that performance the boys would certainly compete (as an A-League youth academy side).
“If our clubs gets the team it will help the players gain more opportunities to progress themselves to that end result at the club as they grow up.
“Because when they reach that age of 16-17, they will all be looking to play professional football, so the more pathways and the more opportunities the better.”
“Considering Queensland as a whole only has one A-League team this would open up more opportunities for boys.”Edgar has been impressed with the quality of competition that the largest Junior Football tournament in the southern hemisphere presents
The mixture of teams from different states and countries all helped to improve their football as well letting the boys enjoy the beautiful game.
“The reason we signed up admittedly is to take on fantastic competition every single game,” Edgar said.
“Up in Brisbane there are some fantastic teams but the quality is not always up to that standard.
“Having to play up to that standard every single game is great for us, having played teams from Sydney and Canberra so far, we have really loved it.
“Every team here is trying to play the ball from out the back, the referees are trying to enforce that 15-yard rule which is good.
“It means it forces every team to play out from the back and play properly.
“There is no second phase football as you see back in England, so I am over the moon at the quality of this tournament. “
Brisbane City won against Sydney United Sharks 2-0 on Tuesday, leaving them tied on 6 points with West Point.
This leaves Wednesday’s decider against each other a must-win for both sides as they seek to go all the way this week.