A pair of Shepparton soccer exports took a step closer to under-20 national team selection this week.
Garang Kuol and James Nieuwenhuizen were selected to attend the Young Socceroos talent identification camp in Canberra.
The duo, who played juniors locally and were talents at the GV Suns, had the opportunity to strut their stuff alongside 28 of Australia’s best young soccer players.
Kuol, a forward who plays for the Central Coast Mariners, and Nieuwenhuizen, a goalkeeper based at Melbourne City, were put through their paces over the four-day camp by Young Socceroos head coach Trevor Morgan and Olyroos head coach Tony Vidmar.
Former teammates, the Shepparton talents were named in a School Sport Victoria team together in 2016, with it now a real possibility of them both pulling on the green and gold at the same time.
Speaking ahead of the camp, Morgan told Football Australia it was exciting to work with both the players and staff involved.
“This camp will provide some of our best young, domestically based players with the opportunity to showcase themselves against their peers in a high-performance environment,” Morgan said.
“We held a similar initiative in Townsville earlier this year as part of an under-16s talent identification camp, which was viewed by thousands who took the opportunity to see some of Australia’s leading youth footballers testing themselves against players in their own age group.”
With a talent identification match played out on Wednesday afternoon, both players had an opportunity to shine.
While former national under-16 representative Nieuwenhuizen gave the coaches plenty to think about, it was Kuol who once again made the headlines.
The 17-year-old scored a spectacular goal and produced a world class assist in another performance echoing his late season A-League Men form.
Participation in the camp not only provided good experience, but sees the duo in contention for a spot in the under-20 national team, with a bright future ahead for both.