After years of trying, the school not only reached the provincial finals for the first time, but went on to win and the team has not stopped celebrating since. According to team manager, Enricho Chapman, this goal was set years back and it has finally been achieved.
“The
Danone Nations Cup is about ‘believing in your dreams’ and playing in the
national finals has been a dream of ours for a while now,” said Chapman. “The games were pretty tough and intense; we
won because we worked very hard in training and I believe that the school
deserved to win, this year is our year.”
Chapman
identified Brecher Primary School as their toughest competition in the finals.
“We played against them twice. In the
first game they beat us 1-0. Our defence was strong in the second game and we
didn’t give them a chance to create goals.”
He
is upbeat about their chances in the national finals. “Without a doubt, we have a chance of winning
the national title after the performance this past weekend,” Chapman said. “We have a special crop of boys that have
that fighting spirit. Winning the provincial
title is a morale booster and the team is geared up for the nationals.” He
admits that having no experience of playing in the national finals is a
disadvantage, but the boys will definitely not go down without a fight, he
said.
Chapman
identifies defender, Toufiq Olyn, as a key player in the team. Toufiq said that
meeting other schools and playing against them was fun. “I really enjoyed
playing against Ferdinand Brecher because they beat us first and we beat them
in our final match. The ultimate was when we won the title. Winning the provincial title showed we can
achieve anything we want to no matter the circumstances.”
The
next step for this young team is to travel to Gauteng to compete in the
national finals on the 23rd June. “We
have never travelled outside of the Northern Cape and we are going to work hard
to win the trip to Brazil,” said Toufiq. He believes that Brazil is the best
country when it comes to soccer. “I saw their national team play against our
national team and I have to admit that they are the best. I admire their style
and technique and I wish that I could go abroad and learn how to play like
them.”
Results:
Roodepan
1-0 Willie Theron
Ferdinand
Brecher 2-1 Willie Theron
Willie
Theron 2-1 Moholeng
Willie
Theron 1-0 Die Kuil
Ferdinand
Brecher 1-0 Roodepan
Roodepan
1-0 Moholeng
Roodepan
2-0 Die Kuil
Ferdinand
Brecher 1-0 Moholeng
Ferdinand
Brecher 1-1 Die Kuil (Ferdinand Brecher won on penalties)
Moholeng
2-0 Die Kuil
