The u-13 girls and u-13 boys soccer teams, consisting of players from schools in the Metro South District, did exceptionally well at the Friendship Cup in Johannesburg during the September holidays.
They were competing in the competition with teams from the Metro North and Metro Central districts who already had teams entering the competition.
“We, as Metro South, received an invitation to play in the competition and we held our trials in the third term before the two teams were selected. Each member was given three months to raise the fee of R6 000 to go on the trip. The two teams consisted of players from Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Wynberg, Lotus River and Grassy Park, all Metro South schools,” says Armien Dollie, teacher and coach at Portlands Primary School.
According to him, Metro North and Metro Central districts were extremely helpful in their preparations for the competition.
“For them, it was Metro South first and we were competing in the competition for the fourth time. We trained on Friday afternoons and before we left we decided to take only a girls’ team and one boys’ team. The girls were competing against seven schools from various provinces and we only lost against Ballito, a girls’ team from Durban which was eventually crowned the winners and Metro South finished runners up,” says Dollie.
The u-13 boys competed against 17 teams and the teams were divided into three groups.
“The two teams finishing top in each group as well as the two best third places qualified for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played on a knockout basis while the group stages were played as a round-robin competition. Metro South only lost one match, also against Ballito, in the group stage and ended second on the log and qualified for the knock-out phase.
“On Saturday play was stopped due to thunder and lightning. On Sunday all knock-out matches were played and Metro South beat Metro Central in the quarters and Metro North in the semis. We came up against Ballito in the finals, and as you know we lost against them in the round-robin game,” Dollie says.
Kick-off was late on Sunday after 17:00 and daylight was fading.
“Luckily for us, the tournament was held at the Juventus Academy which had floodlights that were switched on to complete the game. After full time the score was two-all and went to penalties.
“Metro South were victors by 5-3 on penalties and the Cape teams were overjoyed,” says Dollie.
