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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