Nelsville Primary school, from
Nelspruit, topped the league and met second place finishers, Qambekile, who had
home ground advantage, in the under-12 Danone Nations Cup Mpumalanga provincial
finals that took place in Ermelo last weekend and will travel to Gauteng on 15th
June to compete in the national finals.
“An excellent final,” said Mandla
Mazibuko, Mamelodi Sundowns scout, who attended the day to look at the talent
on offer. “Both teams had their strengths and they played with
intelligence. Nelsville were the better team in the final match with
two players that complimented each other extremely well and they worked
wonders in beating their opposition. You could also see that both teams
had analysed each other’s strengths and tried to counteract these.
Throughout the day Qambekile scored first in all their games to boost their
players confidence, and they did this in the final as well, but Nelsville came
back and scored twice to win the match. They both play with technical and
tactical intelligence which made the game fun to watch.”
Both Nelsville and Qambekile
competed in the provincial finals for the first time, and from the fine display
of soccer they put on, this will not be the last time they will be seen.
“The final was a tough and competitive game,” admitted coach Rewano
Swarts. “They analysed us well. Our philosophy is to play the
Tiki-taka style of soccer which is short passes and keeping possession.
They saw through this and picked us up well braking us up by playing Route One
football which is long passes. They also tampered with our height as our
boys were a lot shorter than theirs, but we capitalised on the counter attack
and won in the end.”
The team has week points that
need to be worked on said Swarts. “My goalkeeper’s weak point is corner
crosses from corner kicks. We conceded most of our goals throughout the
build-up to the provincials through this, however I was surprised to see we
only conceded one goal from a corner cross in the final so the work we are
doing to stop this is bearing fruit.”
Analysis of games is key to
success, point out Swarts. “We analysed their game plan all the time and fed
information to our boys who listened to our instructions and executed
well. It is all about execute, execute, execute and when the boys see the
successful results it gives them pleasure. Our counter attack gave us the
final victory.”
The National final is a bigger
motivation says Swarts. “The boys are excited to get to the finals as
last year it was unfortunate that we were knockout out earlier in the
tournament. We will work hard over the next month and I know that the
boys will play better soccer. We will also be focusing on confidence
building and help make them better players. A confident player is a better
soccer player.”
The nine provincial winners will
compete in the national finals in Gauteng with the ultimate winner going on to
represent the country at the world finals in Barcelona. All the team will
play their final match of the tournament at the RCDE Stadium (home of La Liga
club, Espanyol) in Barcelona, on 12th October 2019.
To celebrate Danone’s centenary
and the 20th edition of the Danone Nations Cup both the 2018 and
2019 world finals will take place together this year. The winner of the
2019 national finals will join last year’s winner, Nomlinganiselo Primary from
the Western Cape.
The world finals are also a
platform for Danone to educate youngster on important brand
messaging. “This year 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,” said Marlinie
Kotiah, GS Director, General Secretary, Danone Southern Africa .
MPUMALANGA FINAL RESULTS:
TEAMS:
Mahlambandlopfu Primary School
(Bushbuckridge)
Nelsville Primary School
(Nelspruit)
Robert Carruthers School
(Emalahleni)
Qambekile Primary School (Ermelo)
RESULTS
Mahlambandlopfu 1 vs 3 Nelsville
Robert Carruthers 0 vs 3
Qambekile
Robert Carruthers 0 vs 2
Mahlambandlopfu
Nelsville 0 vs 1 Qambekile
Qambekile 0 vs 1 Mahlambandlopfu
Nelsville 5 vs 1 Robert
Carruthers
FINAL MATCH:
Nelsville 2 vs 0 Qambekile
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).
