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Silver Strikers youthful forward Peter Wadabwa has hailed his trip to Northern Ireland where he went to participate in a one-week youth soccer tournament, courtesy of South African club Jomo Cosmos.
The 17-year old said on Tuesday Cosmos played against reserve sides of big European football teams such as Manchester United, Cherry Orchard, Benfica, Cruzazul and Otago.
“We won two and lost three matches. I scored two goals in the tournament. I kept changing striking positions from right position to the left to suit the team’s [Jomo Cosmos] strength needs on a particular day,” Wadabwa explained Tuesday after returning home on Sunday.
He also said the international exposure has helped him appreciate the standards of football in Europe, saying Malawi still has a long way to go.
“But if we can seriously revive the Under-17 and Under-20 national teams, we can improve our standards.
“I have seen for myself the important role reserve sides play in the development of football out there,” he said, sounding very happy.
Jomo Cosmos’ locally based manager Ben Chiwaya said following the lad’s return, the team would like to either loan him to Silver Strikers or take him to the South Africa-based Jomo Cosmos soccer academy.
“We will do that as we are waiting for the PSL transfer window to reopen in January next year. But first, we have to talk to his parents and the team [Silver Strikers] because we want to follow right procedures,” Chiwaya said.
Jomo Cosmos is the only team from Africa which participated in the Northern Ireland youth tournament. The rest of the teams were from Europe.
Wadabwa, last year’s Coca-Cola International Schools Soccer challenge top goal scorer, left for the United Kingdom on July 28. He also participated in another youth tournament in Germany in May this year where he scored three goals in five matches.
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