Ecuadorians excite City

By LARRY ANDREW
TWO South American professional footballers join Lae City on Thursday as the Kumul Petroleum National Soccer League (NSL) defending champions look to boost their local and regional campaigns, says coach Peter Gunemba.
He told The National that the Ecuadorians would play two to three NSL matches before travelling with City for the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League group stage in Vanuatu next month.
Gunemba said 19-year-old Dustine Icaza Vergara played on the left wing and Abdias Ananio Aguirrarra, 20, was a defensive midfielder.
“We are excited about their arrival and their inclusion will boost our NSL and Champions League campaigns,” he said.
“We thank our sponsor Lae Biscuit Company for bringing in the two international players to create football relations with two countries Papua New Guinea and Ecuador.
“Their standard of football is high and bringing in such players will give the opportunity for our players to learn from them.”
He said if everything went well with the arrangement, City were hoping to see a few of their players travel to Ecuador to play football there.
“The language barrier will be an issue as they speak Portuguese but we believe they have the skills and the knowledge of football.
“Maybe after some time, they’ll pick up our language and we should communicate well.
“We are happy that they are joining us. It will create football relations between the two countries.”