Bree Primary kitted for Morocco
JOBURG – South Africa's representatives in the Danone Nations Cup world finals in Morocco later this month have been issued with their kit for the tournament.
South Africa’s representatives in the Danone Nations Cup world finals in Morocco later this month have been issued with their kit for the tournament, and Bree Primary School’s U12 soccer team received theirs at a ceremony held at the offices of their sponsor, Mille, in Crown Mines Johannesburg.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, team captain Ntando Simayile, said his team was ready for Morocco.
“We’re all ready to rumble to fulfill our dream. We can promise our fans that we will do our best to win and bring the trophy back home,” said the Grade 7 pupil from Protea Glen in Soweto.
Themba Tshabalala, national co-ordinator for the South African School Football Association, said although he was not putting pressure on the young boys, he wanted to make it clear that South Africans did not like losers.
“If you cannot bring back the trophy, then ensure you bring back the Fair Play Award which we won in 2008 and have defended successfully for all these years, except for last year,” said Tshabalala.
Nyakallo Ndlovu of Mille wished the boys all the best and assured them that the whole of South Africa would be behind them during the tournament.
Chantel Ehlers of Danone, said the purpose of the tournament was to ensure that young boys such as this team lived their dreams and that their talent could be noticed at an early age and, hopefully, nurtured for the future.
The boys leave for the world finals in Morocco in two week’s time, and according to their principal and team manager Devanand Kallicharan, preparations for the tournament have been progressing well.
Kallicharan said the boys have played various friendly matches against top U13 teams and have stood their ground.
“We’re deliberately playing the boys against older opposition as we want them to get used to European boys who are of much bigger stature than them,” he said.
