KZN girls salvage country pride at COPA Coca-Cola Global Cup Champs
The two South African boys’ sides, coached by football legends, Simba Marumo and Jabulani Mendu, finished third and fourth in the 5-a-side tournament.
TUNISIA and KwaZulu-Natal are the 2017 COPA Coca-Cola U15 Global Cup winners. The tournament saw 14 countries take part over three days, with both boys’ and girls’ teams participating at the beachfront Amphitheatre in Durban. In the boys’ final, the Tunisians showed great character by coming back from a 3-0 deficit to equalize. They then used their physicality against a smaller Nigerian team and showcased their experience in playing 5-a-side football by adding to their tally.
However, the Nigerians took the game to their North African counterparts, pushing the match to a narrow 7-6 victory for Tunisia. The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial girls’ team showed their class and dominance throughout the tournament winning all their Group D fixtures against their fellow provincial counterparts, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Team 2 as well as Zimbabwe.
Phindile Phiri, Marketing Assets Manager at Coca-Cola South Africa said: “At Coca-Cola we remain committed to the development of football globally, through our sponsorship of the COPA Coca-Cola U15 tournament. Congratulations to Tunisia and the KwaZulu-Natal invitational teams on being crowned the first ever COPA Coca-Cola Global Cup boys’ and girls’ winners respectively. Both teams showcased a great deal of team work, perseverance and camaraderie within their teams, which eventually led to them being victors. We have witnessed great football during the three days of the tournament and the level of consistency and showcase of football development at this level was great to witness.”
The two South African boys’ sides, coached by football legends, Simba Marumo and Jabulani Mendu, finished third and fourth in the 5-a-side tournament. COPA Coca-Cola is a global initiative that gives millions of young football players and fans the opportunity to come together and celebrate their passion for football, as well as a chance to realize their greatest potential. There were also awards handed over on the day. In the boys category, Ben Hamida Amen Allah from Tunisia received Player of the Tournament, Goalkeeper of the Tournament went to Bejaoui Mhamed Aziz from Tunisia. South Africans, Bongani Mabuza and Lovey Dlamini were tied on two goals each, together with the Player of the Tournament award.
In the girls’ category, KwaZulu-Natal girls made a clean a sweep of awards. Sinamile Mkhwanazi walked away with both Player of the Tournament and Top Goals Scorer. Goalkeeper of the Tournament went to Meggan Coreejes.
