South Africa will make history later this year by sending an Under-12
girls soccer team to compete in the Danone Nations Cup world finals, where they will be competing against seven other nations.
And the team will be a group of players from a Ivory Park, Gauteng who earned this opportunity by winning the Danone Nations Cup girls tournament that took place at Reiger Park, Boksburg last weekend.
They will be accompanied by the boys from Muzuvukile Primary School of Enseleni, a rural area near Richards Bay, on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, who won the boys national finals at the same venue.
A girls tournament was introduced for the first time this year. But because most schools do not have girls-
only teams, it was a pilot tournament in Gauteng only, with 40 schools participating.
There were regional finals, and eight schools went through to a provincial play-off. The teams that reached the semifinals there were then invited to compete at the national finals.
Rebonwe met Michael Mkhwanazi Primary in the final. They had played each other earlier in the day, and Michael Mkhwanazi won the closely contested match 2-1.
So Rebonwe knew that they were in for a tough game in the final. After a tough game, the teams ended with a goal apiece, and the winners had to be decided on penalties, which Rebonwe won, to add the national title to their provincial title.
At the same time, the nine boys’ provincial champions competed in the play-offs for their national title. The teams were divided into two groups with the teams that topped the log meeting in the final.
Muzuvukile was always going to be the team to beat based on their exceptional performance in the provincial finals. Muzuvukile were the only team that won all their matches leading up to the final, and the final was very much like the group stages.
With a couple of minutes left in the match, just as the spectators started to think that there would have another penalty shootout, Siyanda Masinga from Muzuvukile managed to get the ball past Alethu and give Muzuvukile the lead.
It’s now back to the drawing board for both the boys and girls winners, to put together a plan in preparation of the world finals scheduled for Barcelona starting on 10th October.
On the final day of the world finals - October 12 - all the games will take place at the RCDE Stadium, home ground of La Liga club, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona.
Former Banyana Banyana captain Amanda Dlamini attended the national finals, offering encouragement to the girls. “I was 22 when I first travelled overseas for Banyana Banyana, and I remember that experience well. It was daunting and a bit frightening, but it opened my eyes to the limitless opportunities that exist in the world. I matured fast, and I believe these young 12-year-olds will feel the same.”