SA under-12s top of the world
Zolile Mtshelwane
9 September 2003
South Africa is a future Football World Cup winner - judging by its under-12 team, who have just won the 2003 Danone Nations Cup tournament in Paris, beating Poland 2-0 in the finals on Sunday.
Floyd Mbhele, the team's delegation head, told SouthAfrica.info by telephone from Paris on Monday that the team will be bringing home four trophies: the champions trophy; leading goalscorer trophy; best team trophy; and best player trophy, won by charismatic Kamohelo Mokotjo.
"The boys are the toast of Paris after showing off skill and flair throughout the tournament", Mbhele said. Mokotjo, in particular, captured the Parisian imagination with his dribbling skills - as he did at last year's Cup - and featured on billboards along with Zinedine Zidane, the tournament's "Godfather".
SA's under-12 team (Photo: Danone Nations Cup)
The road to the final for the Tsetse Flies - as the team are affectionately known - started on Friday, when they played three games, each lasting 20 minutes. The tournament involved 32 nations, broken up into eight groups of four teams each.
The Tsetse Flies easily disposed of their opponents in Group A: they defeated Portugal 2-0; the USA got a 5-0 drubbing; and the fancied Dutch received a 12-0 soccer lesson. In the semifinals, South Africa's kids beat Austria 2-0 to advance to the finals, where they beat Poland 2-0.
"We did not have a training session in France before the tournament started as we did our preparations at home", Mbhele said. "We scored a total of 27 goals and conceded none, proof of our thorough preparations."
Mbhele added that the 16-member team, after scoring the second goal against Poland, all proceeded to the touchline where they bowed to Zidane. "This was in
show of appreciation to one of the best footballers of this century," Mbhele said.
Graham Abrahams, spokesman for Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour, said the minister was "delighted at the feat attained by the Tsetse Flies. This a clear indication that the country's soccer has a bright future in those youngsters," Abrahams said, adding that the victory would further boost South Africa's bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
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