Pinetown school celebrates its victory

MOPHELA Primary School from the Pinetown District won the U12 Danone Nations Cup KwaZulu-Natal soccer provincial finals, which took place at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium recently. The school beat favourites, Mthethomusha Primary School, 3-1 in the final match.

Danone Nations Cup ambassador and former Bafana Bafana captain, Neil Tovey, who attended the tournament to talk to the players, said, “The teams that won through to the final match were very good. You could see they were well-coached as they played with structure and their passes were good. This was pleasing to see as at this age often the players get caught up in the game and just chase the ball. Both these teams were able to play wide and the players had foresight.”

For Sydney Mkhize, Mophela’s team manager, the win was unexpected. “We have never played in this tournament before and I told the boys that they must look at the provincials as a learning experience, never dreaming we would win. The boys came together as a team, bonded well and had a positive attitude, which I think played a crucial part in our success,” he said.

Winning their first game 5-0 against Westville helped boost the players’ confidence,

The focus now will be on the nationals, said Mkhize. “There will be no team changes as the boys are well balanced and they know and understand their way around the field. I am happy with the standard of football they portrayed on Saturday. Our focus now will be on the psychological aspect as we need to prepare the boys mentally as we know that the nationals will be a completely different ball game.”

The national finals will take place at Reiger Park, Gauteng on 27 June. The winners will travel to Morocco to compete in the world finals later this year.