The Danone Nations Cup KwaZulu-Natal provincial finals were held on
Saturday 20th May at the Sugar Ray Xulu stadium in Claremont with Mophela
Primary School of Ilanga taking the title, via a penalty shootout in the
final. The team will be going to the national
finals to be held in Boksburg on 1st July. The ultimate champion will travel to the USA
later in the year to compete in the World Finals.
Mophela also represented KZN in the 2015 Danone Nations Cup national
finals but were eliminated in the group stages.
They met Inkunzi Primary School in Saturday’s final, and the scores were
locked on 2-all at the end of normal time. So, the game went into penalties and
Mophela won the shootout 5-4.
Mophela led twice in the game, only for Inkunzi to equalise both times.
Their best player on the day was Ndlovu Njabulo who scored the first goal in
the final and the first goal in the penalty shootout. He then swapped kit with
the goalkeeper and kept goal in the penalty shootout, and he did all this while
carrying a groin injury.
Mophela progressed out of the group stages with one win and one draw.
They tied with Muzi Thusi on points but progressed because they beat them on
penalties in their head-to-head clash.
In the semifinal they scored in the final minute to beat Dunywa Primary.
Mophela brought with them to the finals the players parents, teachers
and pupils and their vocal support was what made the difference in the end.
Siyabonga Ndimande, Mophela’s coach, said the finals were very
competitive. “I think what helped us to win was that we know how to fight to
get a result. The team never gave up, even though some of the opposition came
hard at us,” he said.
“The large group of fans definitely helped us win the tournament, they
kept encouraging the team to play their best and never give up even when the
opposition scored.”
Ndimande said that the lesson learned at the last national finals was
that you should only celebrate when the final whistle has been blown.
“In the 2015 national finals we scored a goal against Nelson Mandela
Primary School and thought that we had won the game but the opposition came
back at us and equalised. We eventually lost to them on penalties. On Saturday,
I told my boys to concentrate on the game. They can celebrate as much as they
like afterwards.”
The semifinal and final were very tough, Ndimande admitted. “We scored
early in our semifinal against Dunywa, but they came back very quickly to
equalise. We had to keep up the pressure and eventually managed to score two
goals right at the end of the match to win.
“In the final against Inkunzi, they never gave up. We scored in the
first minute of the match and they came back and equalised. Then we scored with
very little time left on the scoreboard and Inkunzi, once again, equalised and
took us to penalties. My boys never gave up.”
There were some injuries at the provincials, which is worrying, Ndimande
said. “They need to rest to be ready for the nationals, but for the other
players, we will be training hard.
On the topic of preparations for the nationals Ndimande says that
firstly the boys must get used to the cold Gauteng temperatures. “I am going to
organise matches against KZN inland teams to experience cold weather.”
Ndimande singles out Ndlovu Njabulo as their best player. “What makes
him special is that he is a quick thinker and he is quick with his feet and can
dribble well and lastly he is a quick runner. He had a groin strain, but he
still played in the final. He is a team player and puts the team’s interests
first when he plays. I am hoping he will be fit for the nationals.”
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