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The U/12 World Cup team of Benny's Care Academy.

 

Benny’s impress in World Cup

 

South Africa’s representatives at the Danone U/12 World Cup, Benny's Care Academy from Tshiozwi, performed very well in their tough group, said a spokesperson for the team. The tournament took place in Paris, France, last week.

Benny’s beat South Korea 1-0, Italy 3-1, Uruguay 2-1 and drew 1-1 with Russia. They lost 0-1 against Indonesia, Brazil and Tunisia. They also drew 1-1 with Senegal in a friendly game.

The local boys ended in second position in Group E and qualified for the quarterfinals. They eventually finished in 14th position out of 32 nations. Benny's came into the last day knowing that they had already performed the best of all the South African teams that have played in the tournament since 2009.

The team from Germany won the tournament, when they beat Japan 3-1 in the final.

In an interview, Mr Mbishi Mokwena, coach of Benny’s, said that the players from the different teams in Group E became good friends, even though they were very competitive during the matches. He added that he used the opportunity to make sure that they would learn from the experience to participate abroad in an international tournament.

"Our players were extremely popular and became almost celebrities, with all the teams wanting to take photographs with them. We have embraced the tournament with open arm and have made a point of meeting all of the teams and getting to know the players from the other countries as well as possible, language permitting.” 

He added that the competition was difficult and that they played many matches within a short space of time. "We played well in the first two matches, because we had good spirit, a good attitude and good tactical discipline. We lost concentration, however,  and Brazil deserved to beat us," Mokwena said.

 

 

 

 

 

Sport - Date: 22 October 2016

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Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

Email: [email protected]

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