Professional coach comes in to assist Muzuvukile Primary in their preparations for the Danone Nations Cup world finals in Spain

The Danone Nations Cup boys world finals kick-off in Spain on 10 September and South Africa’s Muzuvukile Primary School from Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, will be one of only a handful of countries among the 20 competing that will be represented by a school as the rest are all club teams. So, Danone Southern Africa has brought in a top South African coach, Scelo Qwaba, to assist Muzuvukile in their preparations.

Qwaba is currently a coach at the University of Zululand and his under-17 team recently won a national tournament. He has a CAF A Coaching License and is also a coach instructor and therefore well equipped to assist the school.

Qwaba will go through to the school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to run their training sessions, with the possibility of increasing the number of days per week closer to the date of their departure for Barcelona.

“We know the competition will be tough in Barcelona,” said Muzuvukile coach, Xolani Mokoba.  “Our boys are usually the smallest at tournaments like these, so we are preparing the boys to play a carpet style of football as opposed to an aerial game. It’s a change to our style of football and the boys seem to have adapted well. However, extra training from a professional coach is exactly what we need. I do not have any coaching qualifications and would like to learn from Qwaba.”

The opportunity to play in Barcelona is a chance of a lifetime for many of the boys, believes Mokoba and he wants them to remember it as successful on the field as well as socially and culturally.  “The boys will always reflect back on this trip and I want them to be fond memories of fun, meeting people from different parts of the world and of great importance it must be a massive learning curve. Our manager has been on Facebook looking at what the other countries are doing and how they are preparing. My job is to get them as ready physically and mentally as possible to tackle whatever comes our way in each game.”

Muzuvukile has had great support from the local community. “The Richards Bay football club visited us and has donated balls and bibs to help us prepare,” Mokoba said. “We have also had great support from the Mseleni clinic. The nurses visited the boys, conducting medical examinations and educating them about proper nutrition leading up to our departure. They will be back every two weeks to monitor the boys' health and fitness. All this helps to ensure that we have done the best training we can.”

The first training session with Qwaba will be on Tuesday 27^th August. “Facing club teams will be tough, but not impossible,” said Masi Mkhize, Communications Manager, Danone Southern Africa. “So, Danone Southern Africa decided to give them a helping hand to get the boys ready.  The team representing Spain at the 2019 world finals will be FC Barcelona’s under-12s, for example. There’s no doubt that the kids will learn a lot from playing against such opposition, but our schools going to Spain are coached by teachers with no soccer qualifications and we would like to help them. We have brought in expert assistance for all the teams, Muzuvukile and Nomlinganiselo (2018 winners from Western Cape) as well as our girls team, Rebonwe (Gauteng).”

The teams leave for Barcelona on Monday, 7^th October and will have a couple of days to acclimatise prior to the commencement of the tournament on 10^th October.

“The 2018 and 2019 world finals will be held as a double header.  Barcelona is symbolic as it was in this city in 1919 that Isaac Carasso created the first Danone yogurt with the aim of improving one’s health,” said Mkhize.  “We are combining Danone’s centenary and the 20^th edition of the world final in a bumper edition this year.  It also coincides with our new brand positioning and purpose, One Planet One Health, which reflects our belief that the health of humankind and that of the planet are interlinked and both need to be protected and nurtured.

“Through the Danone Nations Cup, we are contributing to bringing this vision to life by promoting the importance of exercise. Further, we are encouraging our young athletes to ‘Play Football, Change the Game’, which is a rallying message to unite children, irrespective of their backgrounds and cultures, and to encourage them to become catalysts for positive change,” concluded Mkhize.

Rebonwe girls from Gauteng and KZN’s Muzuvukile boys will be travelling to Spain to participate in the Danone Nations Cup world finals

 

South Africa will make history later this year by sending an under-12 girls soccer team to compete in the Danone Nations Cup world finals, where they will be competing against seven other nations. And the team that will represent the country will be a group of players from an informal settlement in Ivory Park, Gauteng. They earned this opportunity by winning the Danone Nations Cup girls tournament that took place at Reiger Park, Boksburg this past weekend.

They will be accompanied by the boys from Muzuvukile Primary School of Enseleni, a rural area near Richards Bay, who won the boys national finals at the same venue.

A girls tournament was introduced for the first time this year but because most schools do not have girls-only teams, it was a pilot tournament in Gauteng only, with 40 schools participating. 

There were regional finals and 8 schools went through to a provincial playoff. The teams that reached the semifinals there were then invited to compete at the national finals.

Rebonwe met Michael Mkhwanazi Primary in the final. They had played each other earlier in the day and Michael Mkhwanazi won the closely contested match 2-1.

So, Rebonwe knew that they were in for a tough game in the final and gave it everything from the beginning. This time they were better prepared and created many scoring opportunities. They were first to score, but Michael Mkhwanazi equalised within minutes.

Rebonwe had the better of the exchanges from then on and came close to scoring right at the end of the game. It ended in a draw, however, and went to a penalty shootout which Rebonwe won, to add the national title to their provincial title.

At the same time, the nine boys provincial champions competed in the playoffs for their national title. The teams were divided into 2 groups with the teams that topped the log meeting in the final.

Muzuvukile was always going to be the team to beat based on their exceptional performance in the provincial finals. They are a very strong team and three of their players have been invited to attend trials at Mamelodi Sundowns. They won all their league games to finish top of their pool and met Group B winners Patekile from the Eastern Cape in the final match. 

Muzuvukile were the only team that won all their matches leading up to the final and the final was very much like the group stages.

They made many chances to score but the Patekile goalkeeper, Alethu Mathumbu, was outstanding, saving shot after shot. Patekile tried to take advantage of the odd counter-attack but they never really threatened the Muzuvukile goal.

With a couple of minutes left in the match, just as the spectators started to think that we would have another penalty shootout, Siyanda Masinga from Muzuvukile managed to get the ball past Alethu and give Muzuvukile the lead. They had a few more chances to add to their lead but once again Alethu was there to stop them scoring and they ran out 1-0 winners.

It’s now back to school for both the boys and girls winners to put together a plan in preparation of the world finals scheduled for Barcelona starting on 10^th October.

On the final day of the world finals – 12^th October - all the games will take place at the RCDE Stadium, home ground La Liga club, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona. 

In attendance at the national finals was Amanda Dlamini, ex captain of Banyana Banyana, who was there to encourage the girls. “I was 22 when I first travelled overseas for Banyana Banyana and I remember that experience well.  It was daunting and a bit frightening, but it opened my eyes to the limitless opportunities that exist in the world.  I matured fast and I believe these young 12 year-olds will feel the same.”

The 2018 and 2019 world finals will be held as a double header.  “Barcelona is symbolic as it was in this city in 1919 that Isaac Carasso created the first Danone yogurt with the aim of improving one’s health,” said Marlinie Kotiah, General Secretary Danone Southern Africa.  “We are combining Danone’s centenary and the 20^th edition of the world final in a bumper edition this year.  It also coincides with our new brand positioning and purpose, One Planet One Health, which reflects our belief that the health of humankind and that of the planet are interlinked and both need to be protected and nurtured.

“Through the Danone Nations Cup, we are contributing to bringing this vision to life by promoting the importance of exercise. Further, we are encouraging our young athletes to ‘Play Football, Change the Game’, which is a rallying message to unite children, irrespective of their backgrounds and cultures, and to encourage them to become catalysts for positive change,” concluded Kotiah.

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world

GROUP DANONE

Dedicated to bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone is a leading global food & beverage company building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in three businesses: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based Products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices, in line with its ‘One Planet. One Health’ vision which reflects a strong belief that the health of people and that of the planet are interconnected. To bring this vision to life and create superior, sustainable, profitable value for all its stakeholders, Danone has defined its 2030 Goals: a set of nine integrated goals aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Danone commits to operating in an efficient, responsible and inclusive manner; it holds itself to the highest standards in doing business, as reflected by its ambition to become one of the first multinationals certified as B CorpTM. With more than 100,000 employees, and products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €24.7 billion in sales in 2018. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Horizon, Mizone, Oikos, Prostokvashino, Silk, Vega).