Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar and Thulani Serero have gone before them, and now Abbubaker Mobara and Tashreeq Morris will hope to follow in those footsteps.
|||Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar and Thulani Serero have gone before them, and now Abbubaker Mobara and Tashreeq Morris will hope to follow in those footsteps.
Bafana Bafana stars past and present McCarthy, Pienaar and Serero all made their breakthroughs on the international scene through the exchange programme between Ajax Cape Town and their mother club Ajax Amsterdam, and now Mobara and Morris will look to do the same.
Big opportunity for Ajax CT duo - PSL https://t.co/0BGSpqqmwj @TheCapeArgus @CapeTimesSA @IOLsport @ashfakmohamed #AjaxCT #UrbanWarriors
— IndyCapeSport (@IndyCapeSport) March 31, 2016
The young duo have been invited to train with the club in Amsterdam, according to the Soccer Laduma website, which was confirmed by Ajax Cape Town on Twitter on Thursday, when they posted: “We can confirm that Abbubaker Mobara and Tashreeq Morris will be undergoing a week trial with @AFCAjax”
SA Under-23 star Mobara has been to Amsterdam before as a junior, where he played for their Under-19 side, but he was not signed on in 2012. He hails from Mitchells Plain and played for Woodlands FC before joining Ajax Cape Town as a junior.
The 22-year-old Mobara, who is equally at home in defence or as an anchorman in midfield, has excelled at Ajax Cape Town for many seasons and was one of the stalwarts of the national Under-23 team that secured qualification for the Rio Olympic Games late last year.
The 21-year-old Morris has had to battle with a number of injuries, but has a strong physical presence and has worked his way back into the Ajax Cape Town first team as a striker in the Premiership.
McCarthy became the first player to join the Dutch giants in 1997 following their association with their Cape Town satellite club.
Pienaar left the Cape in 2001 as an 18-year-old to go to The Netherlands, while Serero first made his name at the Urban Warriors before being snapped up as a 21-year-old in 2011 by Ajax Amsterdam, where he is still playing.
There have been other Ajax Cape Town players who have gone for trials in recent years, such as Zimbabwean star Khama Billiat and Bafana midfielder George Maluleka, but they weren’t successful in their bid to play in Europe.
But Mobara and Morris will hope to go one step further, and they will be joined on their week-long trip this weekend by their club coach Roger de Sa.
Ajax Cape Town have been inconsistent in the Premiership and are ninth on the 16-team log with seven matches to go.
Mobara and Morris won’t be missing any games as Ajax are already out of the Nedbank Cup, with their next league match on April 13 against Platinum Stars.
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@IndyCapeSport - Independent Media
