Tshebiso-Xolani
Primary School from Tweeling, near Frankfort in the Free State, qualified to
play in this year’s under-12 Danone Nations Cup soccer national final when they
were crowned provincial champions at Grey College in Bloemfontein last weekend.
The youngsters will travel to Gauteng in September. The ultimate winner
gets to compete in the world finals in Spain in 2019.
They won the title
despite having a shaky start on the day, said an excited coach, Meschack
Mokoena. “As the slogan for the tournament says, just believe in your dreams!”
It was an early start
on Saturday for the young hopefuls with the bus leaving at 5am to get to
Bloemfontein at 9am, explained Mokoena. “Some of the boys come from far so they
were awake and on the road much earlier.”
That affected them in
their first match, against 2016 national finalists, Witsiehoek Primary School
and they lost 4 – 0. “It was disappointing, but I told the boys that losing the
first game did not mean we had lost the tournament, so we shouldn’t give up.
After all, football is all about winning and losing. The trick is
bouncing back and believing in yourself to do better next time,” Mokoena said.
Their next game was
against another experienced team, Insoseng Primary School who played in the
provincial finals in 2015, 2016 and 2018. They beat them 1-0, which was an
excellent morale-booster for the boys. “We regained our confidence and
composure. It was the turning point for us,” Mokoena said.
They beat Letsibolo
Primary School 1-0 in their third game, which brought them up against a really
tough team in Katiso Primary School. The game ended 0-0, and they won 3-2 on
penalties.
That saw them into the
final and a rematch with Insoseng Primary. “Both teams were excited to play in
the deciding game,” Moekoena said. “Insoseng were in the final for the first
time, and they came hard at us. We managed to hold them to a 1-1 draw and won
4-3 on penalties, making us the 2018 Free State Provincial champions.
“Taking my team to the
national finals is a dream come true,” Mokoena said. “However, we have a lot of
work to do before the national finals. I’m going to have to re-shuffle the team
based on what I saw at the provincials. One of the changes is going to be in
goals. Our current keeper is too short and the other teams capitalised on that.
“The national finals
are another ball game. We will be playing the best teams in the country and the
bigger provinces have excellent coaches. I will be following the other
provincial finals closely to see who we will be playing there.”
Mamelodi Sundowns
development coach, Mandla Mazibuko was there on the day and he said he was very
impressed with Tshebiso-Xolani captain, Mokwining Tsotetsi. He scored 9 goals
in their regional matches and plays for All Stars Football Club and has been
invited to Sundowns for an assessment.
Ricardo Katza, ex-
SuperSport United and Bafana Bafana defender, and the director of football at
Grey College, was also there to have a look at the talent and the standard of
football in the Free State primary schools. Football is becoming a priority at
Grey College, they are currently upgrading their facilities and the school will
be a force to be reckoned within the next couple of years.
“It was great to have
a high-profile footballer at the finals to talk to the kids and give them some
motivation,” said Mokoena.
Final results:
Witsieshoek Primary
School 0 vs Katiso Primary School 0. Witsieshoek won on penalties.
Letisbolo Primary
School 0 vs Insoseng Primary School 1
Tshebiso- Xolani
Primary School 0 vs Witsieshoek Primary School 4
Katiso Primary School
0 vs Letisbolo Primary School 0. Letsibolo won on penalties.
Insoseng Primary
School 0 vs Tshebiso-Xolani Primary School 1
Witsieshoek Primary
School 0 vs Letisbolo Primary School 0. Letsibolo won on penalties.
Katiso Primary School
1 vs Insoseng Primary School 4
Letisbolo Primary
School 0 vs Tshebiso-Xolani Primary School 1
Insoseng Primary
School 1 vs Witsieshoek Primary School 0
Tshebiso- Xolani
Primary 0 (3) vs Katiso Primary School 0 (2)
Final: Insoseng Primary
School 1 vs Tshebiso-Xolani Primary School 1. Tshebiso-Xolani won on penalties.
Ends.
DNC
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