Cape Town’s Nomlinganiselo
Primary School will join the other eight provincial champions in the under-12
Danone Nations Cup’s nation finals in Soweto on 15th September
after winning the Western Cape title at JG Meiring Hoërskool in Goodwood last
weekend. The ultimate national winner will travel to Spain in 2019 to
compete in the world finals.
Nomlinganiselo beat
Phakamisani Primary School 2-0 in the final, after losing to them in the round
robin stage of the competition earlier in the day. Phakamisani had also
lost once in the group stages, to St Helena Bay Primary, so the final was
between the teams that topped the table and were the best two on display.
The final turned out to be
completely different to the earlier round robin game. Nomlinganiselo learned
from the first encounter and completely dominated. Phakamisani tried to catch
them out on the counter attack but the Nominganiselo goal keeper had everything
under control and never looked like he was going to concede a goal.
Phakamisani defended well but
the pressure proved to be too great and they conceded two goals.
St Helena were in the running,
but they drew twice and that took them out of contention. They had the best
spirit of all the teams and will be back next year even stronger now that they
know what to expect.
Nomlinganiselo coach, Mazwi
Ntokozo, thinks that being the home team helped as some of the other teams had
to travel long distances to get to the provincial finals.
“Phakamisane beat us in an
earlier game and we thought about the game and decided that they had two very
good players and if we stop those two players from getting the ball we will be
able to beat them in the final”, he said.
That strategy worked, he said,
because in the final Phakamisani's only game plan was to use those two players
and they were unable to change it. “We have to improve for the national finals,
though. All the other teams are provincial champions too, so they will be very
good and used to winning.
“I have called on a couple of
specialist coaches to help with the goalkeeper, the midfield and the strikers.
I will also tell the boys that we are in the same position as everyone else.
The other schools all have to travel, none of them have played each other so
they don't know what to expect.”
Ntokozo said his boys are
positive so they are easy to coach, and they learn quickly. “We are going to
organise friendlies against the teams in our area. They are not strong, and we
can beat them all, but the extra match practice will help the boys.”
The coach is confident that all
the youngsters play good soccer. “I have given then names of famous players to
watch on TV. I chose them based on the way they play and what position they
play in so the boys can go home and watch the tactics they use and how they
manage in these positions.”
Ntokoza is aware that the
players are not used to travelling so far and that mental preparation is going
to be important. “The other teams must watch out for us, because we are not
afraid of them,” he said. “We are all equal on the field and we are coming to
play good soccer.”
The results of the Western Cape
provincial finals were:
Nomlinganiselo Primary School
2 vs John D Crawford Primary School 0
Phakamisani Primary School 2
vs Lukhanyo Primary School 1
Cloetesville Primary School 0
(2) vs St Helena Baai Primary School 0 (3)
Nomlinganiselo Primary School 0
vs Phakamisani Primary School 2
John D Crawford Primary School
0 vs Lukhanyo Primary School 1
Cloetesville Primary School 0
vs Nomlinganiselo Primary School 2
St Helena Baai Primary School
1 vs Phakamisani Primary School 0
John D Crawford Primary School
1 vs Cloetesville Primary School 0
Lukhanyo Primary School 0 vs
Nomlinganiselo Primary School 1
St Helena Baai Primary School
0 (1) vs John D Crawford Primary School 0 (2)
Phakamisani Primary School 2
vs Cloetesville Primary School 0
St Helena Baai Primary School
1 vs Lukhanyo Primary School 0
John D Crawford Primary School
1 vs Phakamisani Primary School 3
Nomlinganiselo Primary School
2 vs St Helena Baai Primary School 1
Lukhanyo Primary School 1 vs
Cloetesville Primary School
Final - Nomlinganiselo Primary
School 2 vs Phakamisani Primary School 0
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