KZN school clinch tournament on debut

Nine schools around the country met in Bloemfontein for the annual Copa Coca-Cola Under-15 tournament this past weekend, but for one school – JG Zuma from KwaZulu-Natal – it was a particularly special occasion as they were crowned the 2016 champions at Tembu Stadium.

In their first appearance at the tournament, the side’s coach Mcambi Mathaba said they could only dream of lifting the trophy going into the tournament knowing they would be going up against some of the best footballing schools in the county. JG Zuma ended up beating St Marks from Mpumalanga 2-0 in the final.

“This is a dream come true for us,” said Mathaba, who is also a teacher at the school. “We are all very happy, this is a big achievement for our province.

“We knew the tournament was going to be very competitive. I mean, many of the schools who took part here have been here before. This was our first time and I am glad we managed to win. We marched on like soldiers, the boys wanted to win. They believed they could and I believed in them. So, having that belief really helped us a lot.”

Coming from Inanda, the winning coach said their triumph would certainly put their school on the map.

“It’s been quite an incredible journey for us. To think that we come from a small village, one would not have thought we would win. But now everybody knows us, our name is up there with the best schools in the country. We made our school, community and every part of KZN proud, I’m certain about that.”

The road to glory was a challenging one for the school teacher and his pupils, holding tournament favourites Rosina Sedibane from Gauteng to a goalless draw in the group stages before beating hosts Louis Botha 2-0 in the semifinals.