U/13 soccer stars rewrite the history books in Germany
The team from Volkswagen Constantia Kloof achieved what had never been done before at this year's Volkswagen Junior World Masters.
No South African side has ever finished as high as the VW Constantia Kloof side in this year’s Volkswagen Junior World Masters Tournament.
The tournament, hosted in Berlin this year, is a biannual U/13 soccer tournament where VW teams from 24 countries around the world battle it out to determine who will wear the crown of the best U/13 VW side in the world. Every year, the side that will represent South Africa is determined by means of a qualification tournament, the VW Tournament South Africa, which was held at the University of the Witwatersrand in December last year.
It was VW Constantia that emerged victorious at that tournament, meaning they would be the side to represent all of South Africa in the 2018 instalment of the tournament. The boys departed for Berlin on 13 June, in the hope of making the country proud. The tournament got under way with an opening ceremony on 15 June, while the first games kicked off a day later.
The boys from SA got their campaign under way with a 1–0 victory over Spain. The rest of the group stage would however prove a tad more difficult for the boys from Constantia. They drew the rest of their pool games, against Russia, Kazakhstan, Germany 1, and France.
The run of draws meant they were the only team to remain undefeated right through the group stages, saw them finishing third in Group 2 and then saw them pitted against Austria in the quarterfinals. They would sadly not progress any further, as they lost 0–1 to the eventual runners-up. Despite the loss, the VW Constantia team still managed to achieve a sixth place, the highest a South African side has ever placed at the tournament.
Once the tournament had concluded, the boys were treated to a trip to Disneyland Paris before they jetted back home on 21 June with their heads held high.
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