Limpopo school headed to France for Danone Cup
JOBURG – Limpopo school makes history by becoming the first from the province and the first sports academy to win the right to represent the country in the Danone Nations Cup world finals in France.
For the first time since the inception of the Danone Nations Cup, South Africa will be represented in the world finals in Paris, France by a school from Limpopo.
Benny’s Sports Development and Academy beat eight other schools in the national finals, and won at the regional and provincial level to book their tickets to the French capital from 14 to 16 October to represent South Africa.
The Louis Trichard school won the title after winning the title in Boksburg on a cold day at the WJ Clements Stadium in Reiger Park.
They are not only the first school from Limpopo province to take the title but are also the first sports development school to win it. They beat the North West champions, BM Mokitime Primary School, in a penalty shootout after a closely contested final ended goalless. Mokitime came into the finals as favourites after an impressive performance in the provincial finals.
Benny’s coach, Mbishi Mokwena, said the tournament was about ‘believing in your dreams’ and his dream since January was to win it. “We followed the tournament religiously on Facebook. We knew who had gone through to the finals, investigated the type of football they played and the quality of players and we prepared accordingly,” he said.
His team went into the nationals focused, confident, quiet and determined, he said. The night prior to the nationals, while the players from the other schools were running around having fun, his boys decided, among themselves, to stay focused and not let the bright lights of Joburg get to them. “We remained focused on the task ahead,” Mokwena said.
“I was nervous about playing Mokitime in the final. They had won all their games whereas two of our games ended in a draw, and I knew prior to the nationals that they were a good side. But I had faith in my team.”
The school is on holiday at the moment but preparations for the world finals are already under way. “We have asked for videos of previous world final games to help us prepare,” Mokwena said.
“I know that it is a whole new ball game now, but I’m not going to put too much pressure on the boys as that will affect their confidence and, therefore, their performance.”
Going to France will be an opportunity to learn different styles of play, but he wants the boys to enjoy the experience of being part of one of the biggest soccer development tournaments in the world.
