THE Gauteng finals for the u.12 Danone Nations Cup took place on Saturday, June 11 where the winning schools from their respective districts participated to determine the winner.
St Joseph’s Kulani Primary School of Mabopane in the Tshwane North district are the 2016 u.12 Danone Nations Cup Gauteng champions and will be representing the province at the soccer tournament’s national finals on Saturday, June 25.
The winners of the nationals, involving eight provincial champions, will have the opportunity to show their class in France in October. Johannesburg’s Bree Primary School did just that last year and went to Morocco as the country’s representatives. The school also made it through to the Gauteng finals but unfortunately did not make it through to the nationals to defend their title.
Rosebank Primary, who finished within the top eight in the 2015 u.11 knockout cup, will also be competing as the second invitational school. Deutsche Privatschule in Johannesburg was the other school who made its appearance on Saturday.
The Gauteng provincial finals included eight district winners.
The teams were divided into two groups who played in a league with the winners of each group competing in the final. Outsiders, St Joseph’s topped Group B and invitational team, Rosebank Primary School topped Group A.
Rosebank players were physically stronger than their diminutive counterparts, making them favourites to win the tournament. But St Joseph’s did not let size distract them. They took to the field with confidence and played with a purpose, completely outshining their more physical counterparts and scoring the winning goal that won them the title, much to the delight of the manager, Margaret Mabilo and coach, Themba Mabuzo.
