Preparations for Bree Primary
School’s trip to Morocco in October, to represent South Africa at the under-12
Danone Nations Cup World football Finals, are going well. Based on
previous world finals it has been apparent that the South African players have
generally been smaller than their opponents, so this year the team has been
playing practice games against older, bigger teams so that they can get used to
the physical challenge, and formulate tactics to counter bigger opposition.
They played a Mamelodi Sundowns
Youth Academy under-13 team last month, and beat them 4 - 1 and this was
followed up last week with a game against the Wits University under-13 side.
Bree lost the game 3-2, but
showed plenty of tenacity and determination and gained a lot of good experience
from the encounter. They rose to the challenge well and did not buckle against
a powerful, experienced team.
There were some excellent
performances by the Bree players, including goalkeeper Mncedisi and midfielder,
Ntuthuko but it was team captain and central defender, Ntando Simayile, who led
by example and was their best player on the night.
Ntando came to Bree in 2009 and
has played in the Danone Nations Cup for the past two years. He was made
captain this year due to his experience and his leadership qualities and is
looking forward to going to Morocco.
“I want to watch all the other
countries to see how they play and learn from them,” Ntando said. “I want to be
a professional player one day and seeing how other countries play and how they
prepare for games will benefit me.”
Ntando is very interested in
Brazil. “I’m impressed with the skills and speed of Brazilian players,” he
said. “They are also usually smaller, like us, yet they cope with playing
against stronger bigger players. We can learn a lot from them.”
Bree beat the Sundowns team quite
easily, but Ntando said Wits was a different ball game. “They were much tougher
opposition and I’m happy with the way the team played. We were aggressive and
went in there to win. I hope we get more practise games like that before we leave
in October.”
Apart from his professional
football dreams, music and dancing is Ntando’s passion and he is hoping to be a
DJ one day. His favourite is DJ Zinthle. “I like her voice and the way she
mixes music. I listen to a lot of music and much of it could be improved and
that is what I want to do. I am going to work on a singing and dancing routine
for Morocco. I have heard that the other countries particularly like the
way we dance and I don’t want to disappoint them this year.”
Some facts about Ntando:
His Hero: Hulk – he is big,
green, strong, has a fantastic 6-pack, has big hands and is a hero saving
people.
Hobbies: reading and music
Favourite subject: Maths
Football hero: Andile Jali – he
is Xhosa, played for Orlando Pirates and now plays in Belgium
Motto: Be disciplined, listen to
your coaches, teachers and parents and learn.
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