JOHANNESBURG Secondary School is still in cloud nine after they recently retained the MacDonald SASFA Under-14 League at national level.
The Guteng-based school however had to struggle before they could lay their hands on the converted silver-ware. This after the final match which was played at Matlosane, Klerksdorp in the North West against Reikemiditse from Free State produced a sterling performance that saw the match ended in a goalless draw before it was decided on penalties which saw the latter winning 3-1.
First time participants in the tournament Skhethuxolo secondary from KwaZulu Natal found themselves in third place when they battled with Orion for the third and fourth place.
Travelling all the way from KZN the team was happy of their performance and they have proved to be one of the best schools to have entered the tournament. After battling among themselves whether if the boys were ready to participate in such tournaments, Skhetuxolo coach Bhutie Yeni took the chance of entering the team and they proved to be ready after beating a number of schools to go through the national finals.
“The team has done well, it is something we did not expect, we never thought that we will be in the national top five let alone top three, there is room for improvement that’s for sure,” he said.
“Most of them it’s their first time travelling such a long distance and playing in a foreign place but they settled well and come next year we will be here again fully prepared,” he added.
The event surrounded by scouts from big teams such as Mamelodi Sundowns motivated the boys to work harder and have a chance to be spotted and build a career in football.
“We are grateful of the opportunity, we learned a lot through the tournament and the fact that there are scouts shows that there are people who recognize our talent,” said 14 year old Skhethuxolo captain Lungisani Mthethwa.
The best player of the tournament award was awarded to Lebohang Matakanyana of JHB sec.
Top goal scorer went to Sizwe Thwala of Johannesburg Secondary while the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament went to Keegan Pool of Luckhoff from Western Cape.
