St David’s Marist Inanda soccer players emerge victorious in Danone Nations Cup
SANDOWN – The team competed against 20 other teams and will go on to compete against other teams in the provincial finals.
St David’s Marist Inanda soccer team is the Johannesburg Primary School Football Association’s Danone Nations Cup winners.
Schools which are a part of the association competed in the cup for the second successive year with 21 schools entering and it was hosted by St David’s Marist Inanda again.
“This is very exciting and something completely different for our team,” said the team’s coach Thami Nkabinde.
St David’s was grouped with Northwest Christian School, Emmarentia Primary School, Sacred Heart College, Deutsche Internationale Schule and Greenside Primary School. On the first day, they played against Greenside and won 2–0 and on day two they beat Sacred Heart College 4–1.
Nkabinde said teamwork and communication among the boys had been excellent and rather than playing the game as individuals they worked together to make use of the full field, which helped them win the games.
This camaraderie and teamwork continued in their game against Emmarentia Primary School and they won 4–1.
On the final day, they beat Northwest Christian School 1–0 to top their group and qualify for the semi-finals. In the semi-final, the hosts beat Fairsand Primary School to set up a final against HeronBridge College which St David’s won 2–1.
“HeronBridge was strong and would have been worthy champions, we scored twice, but they pulled one back and it seemed like an equaliser was imminent and it was going to go to penalties, however, my boys managed to hold on until the final whistle,” said Nkabinde.
He was impressed by the support of the parents at the games. “It was amazing, it would be great if all parents could attend matches and support their children.”
Now the boys’ dreams have come true and they are off to the provincial finals. “We have no idea what we will be up against, but we have heard from Reddam, who were last year’s winners, that it is going to be tough as the schools registered with the South African Schools Football Association are very experienced in the tournament and have exceptional talent. We will keep to our game plan and put in a couple of extra training sessions and extra games to ensure we are ready for 25 August.”
Details: St David’s Marist Inanda 011 215 7600.
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