Nancy Shiba Primary School from
Witbank, in the Nkangala district, are the 2016 Mpumalanga under-12 Danone
Nations Cup provincial soccer champions, having beaten the 2013 national
champions, and 2014 and 2015 provincial champions, Daniye Primary School in the
final last weekend. Nancy Shiba will now compete in the National Finals
taking place at Reiger Park in Gauteng on June 25th.
Daniye went into the tournament
as favourites and won all their league matches, which included beating Nancy
Shiba 1 – 0 in the first game of the day. The teams met again in the
final match and Nancy Shiba came back strongly and managed to beat the
champions 2 – 0.
“Daniye Primary were our biggest
competition at the provincials,” said coach Khulekani Sikhakhani. “Our loss in
the opening game unsettled my boys, but we were able to get the team to see it
as just another game and to focus on winning the next set of games, which we
did. When we knew that we would face Daniye again in the final we were
ready for the challenge. I was pleased to see that my boys kept their
composure and stuck to the game plan. The more we outsmarted them the
more the Daniye team lost focus as they were complacent and not expecting us to
beat them.”
Nancy Shiba competed in the
tournament for the first time last year but they did not get beyond the
district stage.
Team manager, Motlatsi
Mthembu, who has no formal development coaching, explained why he entered the
team into the tournament. “I gain my knowledge on youth development via
tutorials from David Clarke website; Better Soccer Coaching. In the
programme it stresses how important it is for kids to get match practice and to
make sure they compete in tournaments with a big incentive attached to get them
used to playing competitively and the Danone Nations Cup tics all the boxes.”
The tournament builds confidence,
Mthembu believes. “Most of the players are shy and reserved. They need to build
their confidence so that they can grow up to be young men who know what they
want in life and have the ambition to do what their hearts desire.”
Mthembu says he had an excellent
team this year. “Our success was due to the talented players, three
specifically, who played a major part in our win. I knew I had a talented group
last year and have nurtured them for the past 12 months in preparation for this
year’s Danone Nations Cup. We have an excellent coach and together we have
prepared them mentally and physically and their skills have improved,” he said.
The team came into the tournament
well prepared. Coach Sikhakhani, said that they had scoured the internet
to find video’s of past games. “We did our home work,” he said. “We
found plenty of world final games on youtube and noted the high level of
football.”
“We are going into the nationals
with little experience but we have the knowledge which will stand us in good
stead,” Sikhakhani said.
The results of the
provincial playoffs were:
1. Nancy Shiba PS 0 vs. Daniye PS
1
2. Sandzile PS 3 vs.
Igugulabasha PS 0
3. Sandzile PS 0 vs. Nancy Shiba
PS 1
4. Daniye PS 4 vs. Igugulabasha 0
5. Igugulabasha PS 0 vs. Nancy
Shiba PS 4
6. Daniye PS 2 vs. Sandzile PS 1
7. Final: Daniye PS 0 vs. Nancy
Shiba 2
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