‘Don’t cry for me … in Argentina’
It was the experience of a lifetime for the young man.
Elijah Vere (21) is a young man who wears his heart on sleeve, so he let his emotions (the highs and lows) show during South Africa’s excellent run in the recent Futsal World Cup in Misiones, Argentina.
The World Cup consisted of 16 teams, divided into groups of four.
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South Africa was in the group comprising Italy, Australia and host Argentina.
The team started badly against Italy, going down 4-1 at half-time.
But with some self-belief and positive words from the coach, they turned it around and won 7-6.
“We got the crowd on our side by doing the ‘Mzani’ celebrations and they just couldn’t help but fall for the love of our dances,” said Elijah.
Their second game was against Australia and ended in a 5-3 victory, which mean an automatic qualification for the quarter-finals.
The last pool game, despite a heavy 9-2 loss, gave the team the chance to figure out Argentina’s style of play, should they meet them later in the tournament.
In the quarter-finals, SA hammered Catalunya (Spain) 7-2 to set up a clash with Brazil.
SA surprised themselves by dominating most of the game and were leading 2-1 with 43 seconds on the clock.
Brazil equalised and then stepped it up in extra time to knock SA out 6-2.
“We really thought we had that one and going into extra time I think our heads dropped and Brazil took advantage,” said Elijah.
In the bronze medal game, SA fought hard by eventually lost 8-2 to Paraguay, with Argentina winning the gold medal.
Elijah was the youngest player in the team and thoroughly enjoyed learning from his senior teammates, both on and off the field.
“On a personal level, I felt this was God giving me a lifetime opportunity to leave the country for my first time and to do what I love doing. We made history as the first African team to get past the group stage.”
He felt Argentina, on the whole, was a beautiful place, with normal people just trying to live normal lives. Mostly.
“The love they showed us was amazing. I have never in my life taken so many selfies … they just wanted photos with us and made us feel like celebrities. We signed autographs and some of the fans wanted our shirts. It was goose bump stuff.”
An example of this was when a young boy walked up to him with his little Argentinian shirt and said something in Spanish which Elijah did not understand.
Fortunately, they had an interpreter and the boy asked if Elijah would please sign his shirt.
“This was something that really touched me and brought tears of joy. So, in all, it was a great experience and a wonderful opportunity,” he said.
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