Isaac Booi Primary School claimed the U12 Danone Nations Cup Eastern Cape Provincial Finals title after a tense penalty shoot-out win against Guqaza Junior Secondary School after a day of entertaining junior soccer action at Laerskool Kuswag on Saturday afternoon.
Isaac Booi, representing the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, edged OR Tambo’s Guqaza 3-2 on penalties, after they could not be separated in normal time, battling out a 2-all draw.
The win will see Isaac Booi now head to the national finals to represent the Eastern Cape for the opportunity to become SA champions and represent the country at the world finals in the USA later this year.
“I am so happy for the team, who won,” said Gugu Diko, Eastern Cape Province coordinator.
“We have some fantastic young talent in this team. In past years we have had various challenges with teams, but we feel that this is the perfect team to represent us at the nationals.”
Isaac Booi had gone through the group stages unbeaten, with a win and a draw, with their first match a 0-all draw against Maqubela Junior Secondary school.
Their second match against Alfred Nzo’s Dedelo Junior Secondary saw Isaac Booi claim a comfortable 3-0 win, with their young talent, Langa Mbangela scoring the first hat-trick of this year’s Danone Nations Cup provincial finals.
That took them into the final against Guqaza, who were in good form after they drew their first match, and then followed that up with two 3-0 wins to take a lot of momentum into the final.
Isaac Booi scored through Mbangela and Siphelele Cakuma, while Guqaza replied through Qhamani Matshoqo and Athandile Gazula, with the penalties then separating the sides.
Mbangela and Gazula ended as joint top scorers in the finals with four goals each.
Isaac Booi will now aim to make the Eastern Cape proud when they compete at the national finals.
“I am hoping that they will make it to the world finals. They have confidence and they look to have everything,” said Diko.
“One of the problems that they usually face when they go to the nationals is stage fright as they are meeting teams from Gauteng and Free State and teams from academies, but from the confidence I have seen from this team I think they can make it.”
Isaac Booi will have a couple of weeks to prepare for the national finals, which are set to take place in early July.
“The tournament has improved a lot over the years. All the regions have improved and you can never predict a winner, which is nice,” Diko said.
“I don't think the coach will change anything. I just think he needs to make sure that each player in each position knows what to do and when to do it and they will be fine.”