The Sandton Football Club (FC) under 11A squad won the Silver Cup category of the six-day Brazilian Little League Cup in Teresopolis, Brazil, training ground of the world-famous Brazilian national football squad.
The tour was organised by SportzWorx and the Brazilian Sports Institute, and the team, sponsored by MIP Holdings, which develops software for the financial services administration industry, beat 15 others, scoring 19 goals in four days, with only three conceded.
"The team was made up of boys from central Gauteng schools from the general Sandton area," says Richard Firth, CEO of MIP and a coach at Sandton FC. "They won their first three games, but a 1-0 loss to Anglo Americano put them in the Silver Cup."
Head coach Mickey Fernandes says: "On 14 July we played against Anglo Americano and, despite having the bulk of the possession throughout the game, we lost 1-0. We missed quite a few gilt-edged opportunities to score. During a rare opportunity, Anglo Americano counter-attacked and the referee awarded a dubious penalty against Sandton. Anglo Americano scored off the penalty and we lost the game. It was the only game we lost during the tournament and resulted in Sandton FC finishing second in its group and earning a semi-final game for the Silver Cup."
The team went on to win the semi-final 2-0 against Fla Ilha. That gave players the opportunity to once more tackle Anglo Americano.
"In the first half we once again dominated play," says Fernandes. "But Anglo managed to score from a corner after about 10 minutes in the first half. Sandton FC showed guts and determination to come back and level the score 1-1 from a great shot from outside the area by Joshua Symon. In the second half, after continued pressure from Sandton FC, we scored the winner through a fantastic header by Brandon Leitch."
"We beat them 2-1 in the final," says Firth. "The boys learned a lot about international football and will use this knowledge to improve their game," he adds. "Some of the positive learning experiences were that the boys learned to use the offsides rule when the opposition were in a strong attacking position, and defending the ball aggressively while dribbling downfield, using their bodies constructively to fend off opponents.
"Most of the international teams were amazed at how tough the South African boys are and could not believe that such talent is not transformed into a better international squad playing for the country," says Firth.
There were 50 teams in total across age groups, thousands of spectators, and competing teams came from soccer-centric nations such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
The young South African squad raised the national flag at the opening ceremony and sang the national anthem.
Team members were: Mokati Serobe, Dean Dustin, Brandon Leitch, Joshua Gordon (captain), Dylan Walt, Marcelo Mendes, Richard White, Jonathan Weinberg, Matthew Fernandes, Joshua Symon, Langa Mhlongo, Daniel Firth, Brendon Konki and Panashe Sibanda.
Their tour included a stint in Rio de Janeiro, where they visited the almost 40 metre-tall statue of Jesus, Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), recently named one of the new seven wonders of the world. They learned about the social disparities of Brazil that, in many instances, mirror those of South Africa. Some of them rode the Sugarloaf Mountain cable car, visited Maracana stadium, one of the world's largest and capable of seating 180 000 spectators, and some saw the world's largest urban forest, Tijuca Forest.
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