Witbank’s Johannes Kananda
Primary School is the new Mpumalanga Danone Nations Cup provincial
champion. They earned the title after defeating 2013 national champions,
Daniye Primary School, 2 – 0 in the final that took place at
the Mhluzi Stadium in Middleburg this past weekend.
J Kananda will now join eight
other provincial winners at the national finals taking place at the Reiger Park
Stadium in Boksburg on 28 June, where coach, Kabu Thebyane is hoping that his
school will repeat what Daniye did last year and win the trip to represent
South Africa at the World Finals. This year the trip is to Brazil later
this year.
“We prepared long enough for the
provincials and winning was our first goal and now for the finals,” Thebyane
said. “The team was called up at school assembly on Monday and they enjoyed the
recognition they received, but now it’s back to hard work.”
“Winning the provincial title is a
fantastic achievement for my youngsters, but we still need to prove ourselves
in Gauteng against the eight other provinces. We know the competition will be
tough, but I believe in my team and what’s important is that they also believe
in themselves too.”
Thebyane said he is going to call on
a few experienced coaches that he knows to help with their preparations. He will
also arrange practice matches against club teams. “In the past I have organised
games against older teams and they have proven to me that they can play against
any team,” he said. “We don’t know what to expect in Gauteng so that’s why I
have to cover all bases.”
Siphesihle Masina, an 11 year-old
midfielder, is one of the team’s key players. Siphesihle’s love for the game
began by watching matches on TV and playing with his friends in the street. “I
taught myself how to play and last year I attended trails at the school and the
coach chose me to be part of the team and he said that he saw potential in me,”
he said.
“It’s my first time competing in
this tournament and I thought that the games went very well and I got an
opportunity to interact with other teams even though I was intimidated at
first.” Siphesihle describes the goal he scored against Daniye in the
provincial final as exciting. “Scoring that goal made me realise that I should
not be intimidated by them, I can play soccer as well as they can,” he said.
“We came into the provincial finals
with a goal and we made sure that we achieved that goal, we saw last year’s
winners Daniye in newspapers and radio stations were talking about them, We
also want to experience that,” said young Siphesihle.
“Our coach Mr Thebyane told us that
the competition is going to be extremely tough going forward. I am nervous
because I don’t know what to expect in Gauteng, but I told myself that I will
play like I have been playing and put more effort in training. My teammates and
I are going to do our best to make sure that we win the nationals.”
Competing Schools
Nkangala District - Kananda
Primary
Bohlabela District - Daniye
Primary
Ehlanzeni District - Tenteleni
Primary
Gert Sibande District - Nqobile
Primary
Results
Daniye 1 (2) vs. J Kananda 1 (3)
Nqobile 1 vs. Tenteleni 0
Nqobile 0 (3) vs. Daniye 0 (1)
J Kananda 0 vs. Tenteleni 2
Tenteleni 0 vs. Daniye 1
J Kananda 1 vs. Nqobile 0
Final
Daniye 0 vs. J Kananda 2
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