A proud moment for the Petratos family took place over the weekend with young football talent Kosta captaining the Joeys to a 2-1 win against Varese in the Australian team's final match of their tour of Italy.

The result capped a successful tour for the Aussies, who are coached by former Socceroo Tony Vidmar. The squad managing to draw against the elite academies of AC Milan and Parma, while narrowly going down to Inter Milan.

Nicholas D'Agostino and Cameron Joice grabbed the goals for Australia's U-17 side, while Kosta led from the front and was a constant threat for their Italian counterparts. The 15-year-old is part of the inaugural intake of 24 students that will undertake a football program at Football Federation Australia's new Centre of Excellence at the AIS in Canberra.

The players, who were selected last month, were hand picked by FFA's technical staff and coaches. They herald from all over the country and will stay with families in Canberra and attend a local school as part of the program.

Members and patrons would recognise the Petratos family as being the endearing organisers of our Golden Goal social bookings. Kosta could be regularly seen training with his brothers and sisters in his spare time, so it's great to see his hard work pay off with the distinction of captaining his country at such a young age.

Kosta has already represented the Joeys at international level and will now look to earn selection for the AFC U-16 Championships, at which Australia will be hoping to qualify for next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.

The news caps a big month for the Petratos family, with oldest sibling Dimitri part of the Brisbane Roar squad which recently claimed the A-League's Premiers Plate. Dimi has been a regular starter for the league leaders and scored his fifth goal of the season in Roar's 2-1 win over Melbourne Heart a fortnight ago.

Dimi's side will host reigning Champions, Central Coast Mariners this weekend in the final round of the regular season, before beginning their finals campaign in which they will be favourites to be crowned the new title holders.

On behalf of Strathfield Sports Club we'd like to congratulate both Kosta and Dimitri on their wonderful football success this year and wish them all the best for their future endeavours. We'd like to think we played a small part in their development  and look forward to monitoring their progress for many years to come!