Haggai favourites in Danone finals

Limpopo will host the U/12 Danone Nations Cup Provincial final without the reigning champions, Benny’s Sports Development and Academy.

The matches will be played at the fields of Hoërskool Noorderland tomorrow (Saturday) and the teams that will battle it out for the Limpopo crown are Haggai Independent Private School (Vhembe), Megoring Primary School (Capricorn), Kgwahlele Primary School (Waterberg), Thapola-A-Nkona Primary School (Mopani) and Katang Primary School (Sekhukhune). 

According to observers, Haggai Independent Private School from Thohoyandou-K is the school to watch. It opened in 1993 and now has 320 learners and offers boarding for boys aged between 10 and 18.

This the first time that the school has entered the Danone Nations Cup and they have won through to the provincial finals by beating reigning champions Benny’s Sports Development and Academy. The coach of Haggai, Mr Justice Matloga, is the previous head coach at Benny’s.

Matloga coached Benny’s from 2004 until 2015 after being approached by David Mufamadi, the owner of Benny’s. He has two coaching qualifications: A D-licence from SAFA, and a certificate in sports development in coaching from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He was named the best coach in Limpopo in 2011 and two years later he won the award for best coach at an Under 16 national tournament.

“I left Benny’s Academy at the end of 2015 to pursue my dream of opening an academy,” Matloga said. “It’s called the Greenway Sport Academy and we use the facilities at Haggai. The school’s principal, Mr Thomas Thinawanga Mudau, allowed us to do that on the proviso that we develop the school’s team at the same time as building the academy’s profile, so I was employed as the school’s head soccer coach.”

Haggai Independent beat Benny’s twice in the Danone Nations Cup regional finals a few weeks ago, so it was a case of the current champions being knocked out by a team trained by their ex-coach.

Date:12 May 2017

By: Wikus Lee

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