Friday, September 22, 2017

WF - opening ceremony is over games about to start








The final preparations are over, the opening ceremony is done and, for the under-12 soccer team from Mophela Primary School, it all kicks off late on Friday (SA time) when they take on the representatives from the United Arab Emirates in their first game at the Danone Nations Cup World Finals in New York City.

On Thursday the team trained with the team from Algeria, and played a practice game against them, and felt the effects of jetlag for the first time in their young lives.

The training session started relatively well but as it progressed they found their bodies would not respond as they normally do. As a result, they lost the practice match 3-1, with the boys complaining that their legs were heavy.

Later in the day, the boys got to meet kids from other countries and eventually started playing little games with them. They started to get over their jetlag and found it easier and easier to play football as the day went on.

The teams from England and UAE arrived in New York on the 21st, a day later than team South Africa, and they really struggled to train. The South African team could see that they too are suffering from jetlag and will struggle in their opening games, so they have to take advantage of that when they meet them on Friday.

Their other opponents, Indonesia, arrived on the same day as team South Africa, but they did not have as far to travel and when they trained on Thursday they showed how good they are. Team South Africa have already identified their best player and have got plans in place to try to counteract him.

The team is full or confidence and is ready for the action to start. Their first objective is to win their first match then they will look at the second match to make sure that they qualify for the top half of the draw.

Only then will they think about winning their group. They will be taking the tournament one game at a time.

ends







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