POPULAR WITH THE 39 DANONE NATIONS CUP COUNTRIES

The Barkerville Junior Secondary School Under 12 teams, currently competing in the Danone Nations Cup World Finals in Madrid, Spain, will play for position 25 – 28 at the home of Real Madrid Football Club tomorrow, Sunday, 9 October and will be watched by the legendary French international footballer, Zinedine Zidane.

Considering there are 40 competing countries, and putting the current situation of the school in perspective, this is an amazing achievement for these youngsters and they will be coming home as heroes.

Barkerville is based in a tiny rural village in the Mount Frere Region in the Eastern Cape where there is limited water supply and almost no electricity meaning the boys have not even had the privilege of watching professional football on television.  For them Europe was known as possessing a passion for football similar to South Africa.  Furthermore, the youngsters had never flown on a plane and the food they were exposed to has taken some getting used to!

And so the 2011 Danone Nations Cup World Final started with a win against Germany 2 – 1 which left the South Africans elated and feeling invincible. But their second game was against Canada, the team that will be playing for top honours in the Final, and they were beaten 3 – 0 followed by a 1 – 0 defeat against Bulgaria drawing 1 all with Algeria to end fourth in Group H. This did not go down well for a team from a country that has a culture of ‘win at all cost’ and they were a little down.

But the boys arrived at the Stadium on Day 2 with renewed confidence, excitement and a zest for life.  The reason for the confidence?  Not because of what was happening on the field, but what happened off the field.  South Africa was one of the main attractions for many other teams including Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria (the latter team sat at the side of each South African game cheering them on even though they were in the same Group and were their direct competitors).  Then there were the other teams from Africa including Tunisia and Senegal who sat on the side of the field screaming for ‘Africa’ whenever South Africa played.

While enjoying the attention, the South Africans were wondering why they were getting so much -  and then it became clear - the legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  All these youngster from the 49 other participating countries were football fanatics and all had watched the 2010 FIFA World Cup on television.  They all knew how to sing the Waka Waka and were pestering the South African team manager to teach them how to sing Shosholoza.  Within one day the Argentineans and Brazilians were experts and were heard singing this South African traditional song throughout the day.

Another point of interest is the size of the South African players which is pint size compared to most of the more developed countries estimated to be caused by poor nutrition. The only other country that had kids smaller than the South Africans was Haiti.   “Danone is fully aware of the effect that poor eating habits at a young age, which in South Africa relates to poverty, can have on growth which is why we are looking at introducing an affordable product into the market that has exceptional nutritional properties,” said Sandra Dorville, Communications Manager of Danone Southern Africa.  “Poor nutrition as a young age restricts bone growth which is a problem in developing countries and we would like to make a difference in the South African landscape.”

The Danone Nations Cup World Finals continue tomorrow, Sunday, 9 October.

RESULTS:

South Africa   2  Germany 1
Bulgaria 2 Algeria 0
Germany 4 Bulgaria 0
South Africa 0 Canada 3
Algeria 1 Canada 1
South Africa 0 Bulgaria 1
Canada 2 Bulgaria 0
Germany 2 Algeria 0
South Africa 1 Algeria 1
Germany 0 Canada 2

FINAL LOG:

Canada
Germany
Bulgaria
South Africa
Algeria

PLAY-OFFS:

South Africa 1    Spain 1 (Spain won on Penalties)
South Africa 0   Italy 0 (South Africa won on Penalties)
South Africa 0 Turkey 2

Danone Nations Cup World Finals - Sakhuxolo Ntshikilana makes friends with the team from Brazil

Danone Nations Cup World Finals SA vs Spain- Barkerville Asivuyise Ndzamela

Danone Nations Cup World Finals SA vs Spain- Barkerville Thando Mzotsho