Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

The South African Football Association's Sol Plaatjie region is looking forward to hosting the Metropolitan Cosafa Youth Cup in Kimberley from November 28 to December 7.

"It's a great honour to host an international tournament, for us the most important thing is that it deals with development," said Stoppa Mabula, a local Safa official.

"It is the first time we have such a tournament in our province.

"The Cosafa Youth Cup is a big tournament which attracts talent scouts from Europe, the US and Asia.

"The tournament will help put Northern Cape on the map internationally, which bodes well for our preparations for the 2010 World Cup.

"We are not hosting but strongly believe that the Sol Plaatjie municipality will play a crucial role in providing accommodation during that tournament."

Sipho Nkumane, tournament director, said they were happy with preparations for the tournament in which 14 countries will take part.

"We have regular meetings with the Local Organising Committee in Northern Cape to ensure that everything is on track."

Nkumane said they will use four venues for the tournament - Kimberley , De Beers, Galeshewe and AR Abass stadiums.

Serame Letsoaka, coach of the hosts Amajita, plans to use the tournament to sharpen the team for the African Youth Championships finals in Rwanda in January.

"We are delighted to have qualified for the Rwanda tournament, the Cosafa Youth Cup will help us a great deal in our preparations."

Letsoaka is oozing confidence that Amajita will go all the way to the World Youth Championships in Egypt in June should the Premiership release the selected players.