POLOKWANE – A total of 48 teams from various cities competed in the Charles Latieb Memorial Junior Soccer Festival over two days at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on September 9-10, including teams from Roshnee, Pretoria, Nelspruit, Ermelo, Mokopane, Benoni and some local teams.
PSG u/7, Shooting Stars u/9, Shooting Stars u/11, MSA u/13 and MSA u/16 were crowned the winners of the tournament.
Benoni Girls FC were crowned champions in the u/13 girls category and Old Eds FC were crowned champions in the u/19 girls category.
According to MSA head coach Shamier Cassims, MSA was founded in 2019 to develop the youth in various sporting disciplines.
He said the academy currently offers coaching in soccer, tennis, squash, Padel and general fitness for the youth.
“The tournament was branded under the Charles Latieb Memorial Junior Soccer Festival as Latieb was a sports lover and an icon in our community. He always wanted and encouraged the youth to develop in sport and was an advocate for good sportsmanship. He was well-liked and respected by the community. We decided to host the Charles Latieb Memorial Junior Soccer Festival for the youths to get exposure. The community came together and we had roughly 600 children who participated, so we achieved our main purpose of the Charles Latieb Memorial Junior Soccer Festival.”
He said the tournament was a great success. “As a coach, I was happy to see children from all over playing soccer in good spirit. Parents and coaches from all teams were very helpful in making this tournament a success. Now that Polokwane has seen success in this event, I am positive that this will become an annual tournament.”
He thanked the Polokwane Municipality for allowing them to host the tournament and the sponsors who ensured the success of the tournament.
MSA u/16 head coach, Sufyaan Jooma and assistant coach Mohammed Tilly said they prepared well for the soccer festival.
“We pushed hard and the players sacrificed their time. We worked on our basics from the start and all credit goes to the whole team and to everyone who supported us.”
