The Limestone Coast is full of young stars, but two have been shining extra bright and will be heading abroad to represent regional South Australia.
Millicent’s Will Dowler and International’s Liam Bidese have risen ahead of the rest and are all set to represent regional South Australia in the 2022 Fiji Soccer Cup Tournament in November.
Liam’s brother Jacob Bidese has also been selected to referee at the tournament.
It has been a big few weeks for Dowler, who helped his team score a breakthrough Under 12’s boys LCFA title shortly after being selected in the national squad and said everything has been the stuff of dreams.
“It is something I have always dreamed of and I never thought would happen this year would be true” he said.
“It has been 25 years since we won a final and it has been a great year being picked for the Fiji (tournament) and going up to play for Adelaide Comets, so it is all just a great feeling.
“When I was selected, mum and I were very, very shocked.”
The selection is just as big of a thrill for Bisese as well.
“I am very excited and proud to be going to Fiji to play soccer in the national cup,” he said.
“The team has been picked from around Australia and we will all meet in Fiji and play over six days together.
“It would be one of my highlights in my soccer career and I am excited that I have been given the chance to go.”
The duo were selected after impressing at the State Country Championships in Adelaide in June where they put their skills to the test against kids from all over South Australia.
Now having been handpicked in the special squads from some of the best juniors across Australia, Dowler and Bidese will have to change gears from playing at their local club side to representing their region at a national tournament on foreign soil.
The competition itself is returning after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 and will be a busy affair with over 100 games played over eight days on the island nation with Australia and New Zealand joining the hosts.
Before the pandemic, the Fiji Soccer Cup Tournament had grown rapidly and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019.
For the pair, the competition represents an invaluable opportunity to further their dreams of one day making it to the top level in the world game.
Bidese said it has been a long journey to get to Fiji as he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his favourite player Kalian Mbappe.
“Now that our soccer season is over I am focusing on training for the trip to Fiji where I am hoping to assist and kick goals,” Bidese said.
“Hopefully our team from around Australia that have been selected can work hard together to achieve this.
“I have been playing soccer since I was five-years-old at the International Soccer Club in Mount Gambier and have also been to state soccer, country states and SIPS in Adelaide.
“My family has been my biggest support by helping me travel to training and have been taking me to Adelaide every weekend in the school term to train.
“Going to Italy in 2019 and seeing Inter Milan and Jenventus play at the Milan Soccer Stadium was amazing and they inspired me to work harder at my soccer.
“My dream is to play soccer professionally in the future.”
In preparation the Lionel Messi mad Dowler has tapped into the support from Millicent’s senior side and admitted the prospect of playing abroad is a thought that has hardly escaped his mind.
“I have been thinking about it every night,” he said.
“Going overseas to play soccer will be a great holiday and it has opened up a pathway and I am hoping to make a career out of soccer.
“We bult some soccer goals in our backyard and I have been constantly kicking the ball and I have been training with the senior men, so I cannot get enough of it.
“I also want to thank everyone for donating money to support the trip, including some I have never met before.
“I am very thankful and my coach has also taught me a lot, even when I dropped my head a couple of times he told me to keep going.”
