URUGUAY SUPPORTERS COME AND CHEER ON DANONE NATIONS CUP WORLD FINAL TEAMS

There has been an influx of fans from participating countries that have arrived in South Africa to cheer on the youngsters competing in the Danone Nations Cup World Final currently underway at the University of Pretoria Sports Complex.

Uruguay brought a group of supporters equivalent to two full soccer teams who arrived at the Sports Complex armed with vuvuzela's: "We saw from the World Cup that blowing Vuvuzela's is the South African way of celebrating football so we decided to celebrate in the same way," said one of the supporters who showed off her colourful instrument that she decorated herself. They then proceeded to sing and cheer on the team.

Edward Bermuyez, coach of the u/12 Uruguay team, was glowing with pride. “I am very happy with the way our team performed yesterday. We are already in the top 16, and I am sure our loyal supporters contributed to that,” he laughs.

The fun has not been restricted to the pitch though. Various activities are keeping the soccer stars of tomorrow busy while they had some time off from the pitch. The teams have learnt to paint clay pots in the Zulu tradition (the Chinese team decided to stretch this further and proceeded to paint each other as well), learned the diski dance, and even the world cup dance, the waka waka - with South Africa’s own imitation Shakira.

There have been lot of laughs as kids from the 45 countries learned to do the well-known South African gum boot dance too - some faring better than others.

Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Czech republic, Japan, Spain, Uruguay and Argentina emerged top of their groups in the 2010 Danone Nations after play yesterday.

The Danone Nations Cup is not restricted to boys and some of the countries have girls participating.  One such country is Canada:  "There are two of us in our team," said one of the Under 12 girls.  "I am so happy that I was chosen to come to South Africa.  Football is my passion and I would like to go far in the sport one day and this tournament is fantastic for me.  What I enjoy is seeing different countries way of play.  I believe that Canada is strong in shooting and goalkeeping but other teams are stronger than us in their dribbling techniques," said the mature and confident 12 year old.

The temperature in Tshwane will be hot today and the action is stepping up as the round robin phase of the competition comes to an end and teams go into the knockout phase.

Fun is the order of the day at the Danone Nations Cup World Final

After a hearty lunch provided by Group Danone, everyone was ready for some serious fun. The young players dropped their serious faces on the pitch, and some of the organisational staff even joined parents in cheering the teams on from the sidelines.

The team from Uruguay brought a group of fans as many as two full soccer teams. And what support they gave their team: cheering, singing

- and even a few vuvuzelas made this group as entertaining to watch as their young counterparts on the pitch.

Edward Bermuyez, coach of the u/12 Uruguay team, was glowing with pride. “I am very happy with the way our team has performed today. We are already in the top 16, and I am sure our loyal supporters contributed to that,” he laughs.

The fun was not restricted to the pitch though. Various activities kept tomorrow’s soccer stars busy while they had some time off from the pitch. The teams learnt to paint clay pots in the Zulu tradition, learned the diski dance, and even the world cup dance, the waka waka - with South Africa’s own imitation Shakira.

There were a lot of laughs as kids from 45 countries learned to do the well-known South African gum boot dance too - some faring better than others. When approached for a comment, a member of the Irish entourage quipped humorously: “Sorry, I don’t speak English.. Only Irish!”

Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Czech republic, Japan, Spain, Uruguay and Argentina emerged top of their groups. The team from Canada stood out for their excellent team work and good clean game. The South African 2009 team are doing well in the tournament and are unbeaten so far.

One of the two young ladies in the Canadian team was fascinated by the different strengths of each team. “It is really cool to see how one team is stronger in shooting than the other, and that some teams can pass to each other like machines,” she says. “This is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. Spending time with all these kids from around the world makes me realise how different we are, although we share the same planet.”

Tomorrow looks to be another exciting day at the sporting complex of the University of Pretoria, when the knockout stages will begin based on rankings the players worked hard to achieve today.

Danone Nations Cup World Finals kicks off on a high note

The sports complex of the University of Pretoria was a hive of activity this morning as parents, media and Danone Nations Cup staff got ready for the first day of the international Danone Nations Cup World Final. This is the first time the event has taken place outside France, but visitors could be forgiven for thinking they were attending a world class event - made possible by the meticulous planning of the organisational team.

“This event has been superbly organised,” said coach of Sinenzuzo Primary School who are representing South Africa, Ayanda Mkhize as they warmed up for their first game against Germany.

 This year’s nations cup is two tournaments in one. The international stages of the 2009 and 2010 tournaments are taking place side-by-side this year because last year’s tournament had to be postponed due to the H1N1 virus. Participants of last year’s competition are a year older than the competition’s official age group, but the DNC organising committee rectified this problem by making the 2009 tournament an u/13 event.

Here is how it works: Teams play on a half-sized pitch for 15 minutes without changing sides (as per FIFA youth rules). Matches today and tomorrow will determine the preliminary rankings, and the top 20 teams will proceed to the knockout stages of the tournament. Every team will get the opportunity to play a 10-minutes-a-side game at Orlando stadium on Sunday to finalise the rankings, and both 2009 and 2010 top teams will be announced on the day.

In this morning’s action, the South African team narrowly lost 3-2 to Germany on penalties. School principal Phumelele Nxcele of Sinenzuzo primary was on the bench with her vuvuzela. “It doesn’t matter if they [South Africa] win or lose; this competition is about much more than that,” she says. “It is really great to see kids from all over the world interacting with each other in this way. They are going to do gumboot dancing later - maybe I can show them the moves,” she laughs.

Sofia Shiimi, chaperone to the French team, was very impressed with the high level of sportsmanship displayed by the young players. “I can’t believe these players are all under twelve - they play soccer like adults!”. Although France lost their first game 2-0 to the Austrian team, coach Lionel Vaillant was upbeat. “The conditions in South Africa are very different to those in France. I think our team is still a little tired from the intense travelling, but I do not doubt that their performance is going to be excellent,” he says. “One thing is for sure - the sun is much hotter here than back at home.”

The Japanese team impressed many with their humility off the field, but also with their amazing ball skills when they clobbered the English team 2-0. Coach Yasushi Takasaki did not seem surprised with his team’s win. “We have prepared very well for the Danone Nations Cup, and I am happy with the team’s first result,” he says. “The conditions here are not very different from what we are used to in Japan. The sun here is fantastic.”

The Russians, who have an impressive history in this tournament, did not get off to a good start this morning (losing 3 of their 4 games), but were upbeat:  “We are having a wonderful time and we are really enjoying the weather,” said one of the players.  “This past summer the temperature in Russia was over 45 degrees a lot of the time so we are used to such heat.  We are also looking forward to painting our pots and planting a garden this afternoon and they say we are also doing some gum boot dancing, which we have never heard of but it sounds fun.”

As the action unfolds under the hot African sun, the 40 teams in the tournaments up their game to try and get as many points as possible for a better ranking. Both participants and spectators are in high spirits; and if this sets the tone for the rest of the Danone Nations Cup in South Africa, this weekend is going to be a very exciting one…

Mixed Results for South Africa in the Danone Nations Cup

South Africa had a mixture of success in today’s group stage games.

 The 2010 team had loads of opportunities but could not get any sort of cohesion in their squad so they didn’t look bad but their results were poor. They ended up drawing all 4 games but lost 3 of them in a penalty shootouts. The penalties don’t count against them in the league table points but do count against them when you compare the results of teams that finished on the same points on the log.

South Africa’s 2009 team was all conquering. They brushed aside Portugal, Netherlands and Senegal without problems.  Their big game was the last game of the day against Saudi Arabia, the only other unbeaten team in the group. The game was hard fought and it ended in a 1-1 draw with South Africa winning the penalty shootout.  South Africa topped their group and Portugal managed to squeeze past Saudi Arabia with 1 more win and 1 less draw.

Now some of the kids are doing the extra activities. They are learning how to gumboot dance, pantsula dance together with painting pots and planting gardens with the Food Gardens Foundation. To tell you the truth they are painting the flowers and planting the paintbrushes and having a party doing it.

The other teams of note are:

2010

Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Japan, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina

2009

Turkey, Brazil, Switzerland, Chile, Argentina, Spain, Japan