Maokeng Primary School will represent Free State at the Danone Nations Cup National Finals

The Free State was the first province to hold their 2019 under-12 Danone Nations Cup soccer finals. Last weekend at Grey College, Bloemfontein, Maokeng Primary School from the Fezile Dabi region, near Kroonstad, emerged as the champions. The team will now start preparations for the national finals in Gauteng in June.

Coach, Hilda Malebelle, was speechless when the school beat Ntebohiseng Intermediate School 2 – 0 in the final match to clinch the title.  She was even more surprised when told that she will be taking the school to Gauteng to compete in the national finals.  “I love soccer and have played the game for most of my life and offered to coach the boys seven years ago when I was the cleaner at the school,” she said. “When I left the school last year I asked if I could continue to prepare the team for the Danone Nations Cup, but I had no idea that an element of the prize was competing in the national finals.  I also didn’t know that the ultimate winner would represent South Africa at the world finals in Barcelona.”

Maokeng is a well-organised, confident and skilful team and a well deserving winner on the day.  They won all their league games to get into the final and outclassed Ntebohiseng in the final match to lift the provincial trophy. 

“We didn’t lose a game in our road to the national finals, but I have to say that the most challenging game we played this entire year was against the local Bloemfontein team, Lebelo Primary.  We finally beat them 3 – 1 but they played excellent soccer.  They played an attacking game and their passing was accurate and quick which kept my boys on their toes throughout the game,” Malebelle said. “Fortunately, we have an excellent striker, Tshepo Mega, who is the key player in the team, and he was able to stabilise the boys and keep them grounded and focused and we were able to counter attack and win the game.” 

Malebelle brought in her ex club coach, Tebogo Goangae, to assist her in preparing the youngsters.  “Our team was well prepared for the provincials.  Tebogo helped us a lot in setting up friendly games and fine-tuning our game plan.  He taught the boys formations that worked well throughout the tournament.”

And now onto the national finals.  Malebelle said she will go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to prepare for taking on the other eight provinces.  “I will go back to the school and we will draw up a schedule of training and arrange more difficult friendly games with older age groups in preparation. I will ask Tebogo to keep helping us as he has an incredible understanding and knowledge of the game.”

The Northern Cape will host the next provincial final playoffs in Upington on 27^th April.

“The Danone Nations Cup is the cup of dreams,” said Chantel Ehlers, Internal Communications, Danone Southern Africa.  “We congratulate Maokeng on this amazing achievement and the coach’s story is so inspiring, which is what our tournament is all about.  It is about playing football and changing the game, it is about believing in your dreams and uniting children irrespective of their backgrounds and cultures.  Further, the tournament slots into our new brand 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.”

RESULTS: 

COMPETING TEAMS:

Inoseng Primary School (2018 Champions):  Xhariep District

Ntebohiseng Intermediate School:  Thabo Mofutsanyane District

Maokeng Primary School:  Fezile Dabi District

Letsibolo Public Primary School:  Lejweleputswa District

Lebelo Primary School:  Motheo District (The coach of Lebelo, Olehile Moeti, competed in the Danone Nations Cup back in 2005 for Manchester Football Club based on Botshabelo)

Team	Goals Team A	Goals Team B	Penalties	Team
Maokeng Primary School	0	0	3-1	Lebelo Primary School
Letsibolo Public Primary School	0	0	2-1	Ntebohiseng Intermediate school
Inoseng Primary School	0	1		Maokeng Primary School
Lebelo Primary School	0	0	3-0	Letsibolo Public Primary School
Ntebohiseng Intermediate school	2	0		Inoseng Primary School
Maokeng Primary School	3	0		Letsibolo Public Primary School
Lebelo Primary School	1	1	2-1	Ntebohiseng Intermediate school
Letsibolo Public Primary School	0	1		Inoseng Primary School
Ntebohiseng Intermediate school	0	1		Maokeng Primary School
Inoseng Primary School	0	0	1-2	Lebelo Primary School
FINAL MATCH Maokeng Primary School	2	0		Ntebohiseng Intermediate school

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

 

SURPRISE WINS IN THE DANONE NATIONS CUP PROVINCIAL FINALS IN KZN AND NORTHERN CAPE

Ndogeni Primary School from KwaZulu Natal and Robanyane Primary from the Northern Cape each won their Provincial finals on Saturday, 7 May 2011 and are now through to the Danone Nations Cup National Finals taking place at the Eldorado Stadium in Eldorado Park, Gauteng on 9 July 2011.

“I must commend Ndogeni Primary for a fine performance,” said ex Bafana Bafana captain and Danone Nations Cup ambassador, Neil Tovey who attended the KwaZulu Natal Provincial finals.  “The school has a number of exceptionally talented players however they played individualistic football as opposed to playing as a team.  I spoke to them after the game about this.  Football is a team sport and when they compete against other teams that pass to team mates effectively they will be beaten.”

Ndongeni Primary School comes from the Umlazi Region and they beat Ezamukuthula Primary School from Uthugela region 3 – 0 to be crowed the Provincial champions. The finals took place at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi.

On the same day the Northern Cape also held their Danone Nations Cup Provincial Finals.   Robanyane Primary from the John Taole region earned a spot in the National Finals after beating Kgabang Primary School from Francis Baard 3 – 0 on penalties in the final game.  The full time score was 0 – 0. The finals took place at the Kimberly Technical High stadium.

“This is exciting as it is our first appearance in the Danone Nations Cup,” said Robanyane Primary’s Coach, Elias Moipone, “We came here prepared and were match fit to face any opponent.” Founded only three years ago , Moipone said that it has been the school Principal’s dream to see his boys participating in the Danone Nations Cup, however before this year they didn’t have the facilities nor enough players to have taken part. “These are the players I started training from Grade 3 when they first got to the school. This tournament introduced them to their first official match. We are very far from other Primary schools and it has been a difficult task to organise friendly games to get match practise which makes this win even more exciting.”

Other teams that have been guaranteed a place in the National finals are Kgwahlele Primary (Limpopo), Mhlahle Primary  School (Mpumalanga)and  Nosizwe Primary School (North West).

Free State is the next Province to host their Provincial finals happening at the Clive Solomon Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday, 14 April from 9am.

The 2011 Danone Nations Cup champions will then to go Madrid, Spain in October to compete in the World Finals against 39 other Nations.

RESULTS – NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCIAL FINALS

SIMBRUNER PRIMARY SCHOOL (Siyanda Region)

KGABANG PRIMARY SCHOOL (Francis Baard Region)

ROBANYANE PRIMARY SCHOOL (John Taole Region)

VAN RENSBURG PRIMARY SCHOOL (Pixley Kasime Region)
BUFFELS RIVIER PRIMARY SCHOOL (Namaqualand Region)

Van Rensburg Primary School 1 vs Buffels River Primary School 0

Robanyane Primary School 0 (2) vs Kgabang Primary School 0 (3)

Simbruner Primary School 0 vs Van Rensburg Primary School 1

Buffels River Primary School  0 vs Robanyane Primary School 4

Kgabang Primary School 2 vs  Simbruner  Primary School 0

Van Rensburg Primary School 0 vs Robanyane Primary School 1

Buffels River Primary School 0 vs Kgabang Primary School 2

Robanyane Primary School 1(2) vs Simbruner Primary School 1(3)

Kgabang Primary School 2 vs Van Rensburg Primary School 0

Simbruner Primary School 2 vs Buffels River Primary School 0

FINAL LOG POSTION

1^st – Kgabang Primary School – 10 pts

2^nd – Robanyane Primary School – 4 pts

3^rd – Van Rensburg Primary School – 3 pts

4^th – Buffels Rivier Primary School – 1 pts

FINAL

Kgabang Primary School 0 (2) vs.  Robanyane Primary School 0 (3)

DANONE NATIONS CUP – 2011 NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS –  Robanyane Primary School

RESULTS – KWAZULU NATAL

OHLONGENI PRIMARY SCHOOL (Ugu Region)

EZAMUKUTHULA PRIMARY SCHOOL (UThukela Region)

SURYAVILLE PRIMARY SCHOOL (Amajuba Region)

EMPHATHE PRIMARY SCHOOL (UMzinyathi Region)

NEW GEULERLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL (ILembe Region)

NDONGENI PRIMARY SCHOOL (Umlazi Region)

TAYLORS PRIMARY SCHOOL (UMgungundlovu Region)

OPHUZANE PRIMARY SCHOOL (Vryheid Region)

MTHWAZI PRIMARY SCHOOL (Ubombo Region)

NDABAYAKHE PRIMARY SCHOOL (Empangeni Region)

FIELD A

Ndongeni Primary School 3 vs Taylors Primary School 1

Ophuzane Primary School 0 (4) vs Mthwazi Primary School 0 (5)

Ndabayakhe Primary School 0 vs Ndongeni Primary School  1

Taylors Primary School 0 (3) vs Ophuzane Primary School 0 (2)

Mthwazi Primary School 0 vs  Ndabayakhe Primary School 2

Ndongeni Primary School 2 vs OphuzanePrimary School 0

Taylors Primary School 0 (2) vs Mthwazi Primary School 0 (3)

Ophuzane Primary School 0 vs Ndabayakhe Primary School 2

Mthwazi Primary School 0 vs Ndongeni Primary School 2

Ndabayakhe Primary School 0 vs Taylors Primary School 0

FIELD B

Ezamukuthula Primary School 0 vs Ohlongeni Primary School 1

Suryaville Primary School 2 vs Emphathe Primary School 0

New Geulerland Primary School 0 vs Ezamukuthula Primary School 1

Ohlongeni Primary School 1 vs Suryaville Primary School 0

Empathe Primary School 0 vs New Guelerland Primary School 2

Ezamukuthula Primary School 1 vs Suryaville Primary School 0

Ohlongeni  Primary School 1 (2) vs Empathe Primary School 1 (0)

Suryaville Primary School 1 vs New Geulerland Primary School 3

Empathe Primary School 0 vs Ezamukuthula Primary School 3

New Geulerland Primary 0 (1) vs Ohlongeni Primary School 0 (3)

FINAL

Ndongeni  Primary School 3 vs.  Ezamukuthula Primary School 0

DANONE NATIONS CUP – 2011 KWAZULU NATAL PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS –  Ndongeni Primary School.

2011 KZN NEIL PRIZE GIVING picture by Canon

DNC - 2011 KZN WINNERS - Ndogeni Primary School CELEBRATION picture by Canon

Ndogeni Primary School picture by Canon

Ndgeni Primary School picture by Canon