Iphuteng Primary School registerd for the Danone Nations Cup
One month left for schools to register for junior cup.
Another month has been added for schools to register for the Danone Nations Cup. The school soccer season has begun and those who have registered are already hard at training in preparation for the chance to represent South Africa as the world finals in Barcelona later this year.
Iphuteng Primary School is one of the schools which has already registered. The school has been competing in the tournament for the past 10 years, reaching the provincial finals only once in 2009, when they didn’t make it to the knockout phases.
Team manager, Letladi Lola believes they will do well this time around. They were knocked out by Bree Primary School which went on to win the world title that year, becoming the third South African team to do so. Lola believes that with parents support they will prevail.
“Our biggest problem is lack of parent support and the fact that many players have to leave training early to fetch their siblings and take them home,” he said. All 12 schools based in the Johannesburg East District will be participating in the competition.
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Lola said they compete against these schools on a regular basis and he changes his players each game to test their skills and combinations to ensure he has the strongest team for the prestigious tournament.
Many of the school’s top players have transferred to other schools recently which has made the selection process difficult, but Lola believes they have enough players to make a difference and that this could well be the year they will reach the provincial finals again.
The school has a new coach this year in Thebe Mabala whom according to Lola he knows how to bring out the best in the players and it is working out very well. The 2018 and 2019 tournaments will take place as a double-header this year in Barcelona to coincide with Danone’s 100th birthday and the tournament’s 20th anniversary.
The tournament is run under the auspices of the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA) who collect registration forms, finalise dates and fixtures and manage the games at the cluster, regional, provincial and national level.
Games will kick-off at cluster level in March culminating in the national final to be held in June or July. The World Finals are expected to take place in early October.
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