The small township of Kagisanong hosted the Free State Danone Nations Cup Provincial finals on Saturday, 14 May, which saw fourth time Provincial champions, Mofulatshepe Primary School from Smithfield beating Katoloso Primary School from Wesselsbron 3 – 2 on penalties lift the trophy and book a place in the National Finals.
All indications pointed to Katoloso Primary being the overall winners as the school performed outstandingly winning all their League games. But the youngsters could not contain the pressure from Mofulatshepe in the finals.
Mufulatshepe will now represent the Province at the National finals happening at Eldorado Park, Gauteng on 9 July 2011. The team believe that it is a case of fourth time lucky and have vowed that after being crowned Provincial champions in 2008, 2009 and 2010 it is now their time to shine and get the chance to go to Spain between 5 - 10 October to represent South Africa in the Danone Nations Cup World Finals.
“Not only have we made history, but we have also achieved one of our most important goals for this year,” said Lawrence Johns, coach of Mofulatshepe Primary School. “We still have a long way to go but I am confident that we will surprise many at the National finals this year”
Free State finished 3rd in last year’s finals and this will be a chance for the School to put on a better performance. The winners will join Robanyane (Northern Cape), Kgwahlele (Limpopo), Nosizwe (North West), Mhlahle (Mpumalanga) and Ndongeni (KZN) respectively and will wait for the last three provincial finals still to be decided.
Groupe Danone, the largest supplier of yoghurt in the world, uses football as the vehicle to educate youngsters on the importance of developing a healthy life style at a young age, which is why the company decided to sponsor the Under 12 Danone Nations Cup. 2011 is the 11th year of the sponsorship and the company has touched the lives of over 15 million youngsters all over the world. Currently over 40 countries are running development programmes to identify the team that will represent the country in the World Finals in October and in the case of Southern Africa the Provincial finals are currently happening in the 9 Provinces.
“Danone understands the importance of good nutrition in developing a healthy youngster,” said Sandra Dorville, Danone Southern Africa communications manager.
“We further use the opportunity to encourage youngsters to believe in their dreams. Through this tournament we want youngsters to also understand that football at this age is about just simply having fun and learning to enjoy the game,” said Dorville
The Danone Nations Cup has also unearthed some true talent that is now competing at professional level including Kamohelo Mokotjo, now playing in Holland as well as Philani Khwela and Kermit Erasmus now with SuperSport United.
“Danone is also embarking on a project to find the youngsters that went to France in 2003 and were part of the winning team. We are looking for the youngsters, who will now be around 20 years old and establish what they are doing and how the tournament influenced their lives,” said Dorville.
RESULTS – FREE STATE WINNERS PROVINCIAL FINALS
POOL - A
TEAM 1 – TLOTLISO PRIMARY SCHOOL
TEAM 2 – ZAMALEKA PRIMARY SCHOOL
TEAM 3 – MOFULATSHEPE PRIMARY SCHOOL
TEAM 4 – RELEBELETSE PRIMARY SCHOOL
TEAM 5 – LETOTOLO PRIMARY SCHOOL
TEAM 6 – KATOLOSO PRIMARY SCHOOL
Tlotliso Primary 1 (3) vs. Zamaleka Primary 1 (1)
Relebeletse Primary 0 vs. Katoloso Primary 0 (6)
Mofulatshepe Primary 0 (3) vs. Letotolo 0 (1)
Tlotliso Primary 1 vs. Relebeletse Primary 0 (0p)
Zamaleka Primary 3 vs. Katoloso 1
Mofulatshepe Primary 2 vs. Tlotliso Primary 0
Letotolo Primary 2 vs. Relebeletse 2
Zamaleka Primary 0 (1) vs. Mofulatshepe Primary 0 (3)
Katoloso Primary 0 (5) vs. Tlotliso Primary 1
Letotolo Primary 0 vs. Zamaleka Primary 2
Relebeletse 1 (5) vs. Mofulatshepe 1 (6)
Letotolo Primary 0 vs. Katoloso Primary2
Zamaleka Primary 0 vs. Relebetse Primary 1
Tlotliso Primary 1 vs Letotolo Primary 0
Katoloso Primary 0 vs. Mofulatshepe Primary 2
FINAL LOG POSTION
POOL A: 1st – Katoloso, 2nd – Mofulatshepe, 3rd – Tlotliso, 4th – Relebeletse, 5th –Zamaleka, 6th - Letotolo.
FINAL
Katoloso Primary 1 (2P) vs. Mufulatshepe Primary 1(3P)
WINNER DANONE NATIONS CUP – FREE STATE 2011 – Mofulatshepe Primary School.
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