Monday, May 28, 2012

Football Development in South Africa took centre stage in Gauteng this past weekend



Johannesburg Secondary School will be the Gauteng representative at the under-15 COPA Coca-Cola National Finals in Tshwane in early July.

Johannesburg Secondary beat Clapham High School 2-0 in the final of the Gauteng provincial playoffs at the Saul Tsotetsi Sports Grounds in Sebokeng on Saturday.

2012 is the first year that COPA Coca-Cola will be an Under 15 tournament and is run under the auspices of the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA) with over 1 000 schools from around South Africa competing.

Johannesburg Secondary School is the education partner to the Orlando Pirates Youth Academy, while Clapham had players from the Mamelodi Sundowns Youth Academy in its ranks.

The presence of four Academy teams out of the eight participating in the Gauteng provincials - Highlands North Boys’ High School (JazzyQueen’s African Sport Academy) and Rosina Sedibane High School (SuperSport United) are the other two – indicates that the PSL Clubs are on a mission to boost their squads with home grown talent.

“It is the way forward,” said Themba Ngwenya, Mamelodi Sundowns scout. “The Sundowns philosophy is to look for local talent at an early age and get them into our academy to teach them the Sundowns way which is the 4-3-3 format and attacking football. Our club owner, Mr Motsepe, is also doing all he can to boost the Tshwane communities.”

Isaac Shai, the Clapham and Sundowns Academy coach was pleased with the way the day went. “We went down to a mightier opponent, but I am happy with my team. We only enrolled our players into Clapham earlier this year and we have done exceptionally well in just a few months,” he said.

I am especially pleased with the way the players approached each game. They kept their composure and never forgot the game plan.”

Johannesburg Secondary School had a big advantage: 13 of the 17 players in their squad have been together since primary school. As a team, they won a 40 nation international tournament at the Orlando Stadium back in 2009.

Rosina Sedibane suffered a setback earlier in the day when their key midfielder, OrbadjaMaluleka fell and broke his wrist so had to be taken to hospital. “It is a pity as he is our key ball supplier to the strikers,” said their coach, Reginald Patterson. “I did have back up in Zama Mzondwana, also a midfielder whose special talent is his ability to read opponents. But it was not our day and all the best to Johannesburg Secondary School.”

Craig Van Niekerk, Coca-Cola South Africa Marketing Asset Manager explains the change of age group:  “The change is in line with COPA Coca-Cola’s global strategy. The Coca-Cola Company backs football at the highest level, the FIFA World Cup™ and it is the company policy to complement this by making a direct contribution towards strengthening the sport at grassroots level through tournaments such as COPA Coca-Cola, and globally the tournament is run as an Under-15 event.  Coca-Cola South Africa also backs Club football through the Premier Soccer League (PSL).”

“But COPA Coca-Cola is not just about winning, but respecting diversity,” explains Donnay Carter, Coca-Cola South Africa Brand Manager.  “It’s about living a healthy and active lifestyle, forging friendships with those from vastly different backgrounds, harnessing the extraordinary power that football has to unite different cultures and backgrounds to bring people together and living for a difference. ”



GUATENG FINAL RESULTS



Pool A - Clapham 3 (Lovers Malatsi, Avuyile Makhudu, Tepiso Mbongwa) Highlands North 0; ThomasMofolo 1 (Tshediso Monamadi) BasaTutorial Institute 0; Clapham 1 (AvuyileMakhudu) Thomas Mofolo 1 (TshedisoMonamadi); Highlands North 3 (Warren Segage3) Basa 0; Clapham 8 (Avuyile Makhudu(3), Lovers Malatsi (3), Sizwe Chuene, Thomas Njajubana) Basa 0; Thomas Mofolo 5 (Tshediso Monanadi (4) Thabo Modubu ) Highlands North 1 (Warren Segage).



Pool B - Johannesburg 3 (Sibusiso Damini, Thula Tabethe, Sizwe Twala) Zitikeni 1 (Mongezi Sicna); Rosina Sedibane 6 (Banjatwa Hendrik (3), Mabange Sizwe (2), Thuto Marafe) EdendalePeps 1(Kagiso Maredi); Johannesburg 8 (Bonolo Sieeco, Sizwe Twala (2), Sibusiso Dlamini (2), Sibusiso Sako, Phila Vela, DanisileMqwathi), Edendale Peps 0; Rosina Sedibane 3 (OfentseMotjaana (2), Tshegofatso Pampati) Edendale Peps 1 (Kagiso Maredi); Johannesburg 1 (Sizwe Twala) Rosina Sedibane 0); Zitikeni 3 (Siche Mongezi, Tebogo Thepe, Sifiso Mtshwei ) Edendale 1(Ofentse Makhatho);



Final- Johannesburg 2 (ThulaThabethe, Mbongiseni Mazibuko) Clapham 0.







About COPA Coca-Cola:

·         Copa Coca-Cola is run under the auspices of the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA)

·         Coca-Cola started sponsoring Coca-Cola Football Stars in 2005.

·         Between 2005 and 2008 a TV reality element was introduced aimed at finding the top 18 players who would go on to compete internationally.  To keep interests high an elimination process was brought in to reduce players from approximately 70 down to 18 and the public witnessed the trials and tribulations that went into becoming a top football player.

·         In 2009 and 2010 the name changed to bring the tournament in line with Coca-Cola’s global youth strategy to COPA Coca-Cola.  The aim of the tournament remained the same i.e. to look for the top Under-19 school in the country and find the top 18 players who then competed against approximately 13 other African schools in the Copa Coca-Cola finals. 

·         In 2012 COPA Coca-Cola became an Under 15 tournament to align with the Copa Coca-Cola globally. 

·         The tournament starts off at Cluster level (this level is now complete as it happened in January)

·         Regional winners then compete in the Provincial Finals

·         Provincial winners then compete in the National Finals taking place from the 3rd – 7th July.






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