Clapham High School from Pretoria are the 2019 under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup champions and they will take home the R1 million prize money, to be spent on legacy projects at the school.

 Clapham convincingly beat Siphokuhle Secondary School from Mpumalanga 8-1 in the final to be crowned the winners of the 2019 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam.

Clapham showed their class from the start of the tournament winning all their round robin matches and taking maximum points from the group stage. They knocked out Khula Senior Secondary School from Mpumalanga 3-0 in their semi-final clash to meet Siphokuhle in the final.

In the final, Siphokuhle scored first within 10 minutes via an excellently taken free kick which hit the back of the net.

However, Clapham rose to the challenge and came back to level the score. From there on it was Clapham all the way. They ended the first half with a 4-1 lead and scored another four goals in the second half.

This is the second successive year that Clapham has won the tournament.

“Every year you face different challenges so every year it feels like it is your first time of winning, it is always a great feeling,” said the champion’s excited coach, Mike Mangena, a former Mamelodi Sundowns player.

Mangena said afterwards the competition was tougher this year.

“We had to work harder, but at the end we kept looking for opportunities and this is what helped us to win.  We stuck to what we know best and we outclassed our opponents based on our scientific approach to the game,” Mangena explained.

According to Mangena, when he was a professional player most of the effort in training was placed on the physical side of the game – to be at your best for the 90 minutes.  But the modern game is a lot different.  At the end of the day it is a combination of the psychological, technical and tactical preparations.

“You need to outsmart, outrun, outsprint the opposition and we did this very effectively this year.  I urge all schools to look at this aspect of the game as there are many very talented players, but it’s about how you read the game and find the best solution and take the necessary technical or tactical actions needed to win matches,” Mangena concluded.

Clapham also walked off with all the individual player awards and Mangena was named the coach of the tournament.

The top goal scorer award was shared between Tlotlego Pitso and Riandre Vries, both from Clapham who each ended with eight goals from four games.  Pitso is the team captain and Clapham head boy.

Sfundo Jaba from Clapham was designated as goalkeeper of the tournament, while Riandre Vries walked away with the top accolade when he was designated as player of the tournament.

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