Local lads tour Rome
RUIMSIG - Soccer tournament makes it possible for local lads to tour Rome.
Two pupils from Maragon Private Schools, Marc Roets and Andreas Lambiris, represented South Africa at the Volkswagen Junior Masters Tournament held in Italy, Rome between 6 and 12 May.
More than 1 000 teams from 22 different countries went through the qualifying rounds for the right to represent their respective countries in the U13 tournament in which the Maragon pupils took part.
The final game between Turkey and Switzerland was played at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, home of a professional Italian Football Club Associazione Sportiva Roma. The latter won in a penalty shootout.
Marketing manager of the school Belinda Espag said South Africa was drawn with Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and Japan in Group A for the group stages, which was dubbed the ‘group of death’.
“Though they didn’t progress past the group stages, the boys did our country proud and showed that they can compete against the best.”
She added that South Africa drew 0–0 with Turkey, who progressed to the finals.
Espag said it was a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime experience and the boys made many friends from different countries all over the world, including Russia, Germany, South Korea, Poland, France, Argentina, Kazakhstan, USA, Namibia, Australia and Spain – to name a few.
“Maragon is very proud to have this kind of talent in our school,” Espag concluded.
