Picture left: Captain Siphesihle Zungu
Glenwood High School were crowned the new champions of KwaZulu-Natal in the province’s COPA Coca-Cola Provincial Finals played at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Saturday, 18 August.
The newly crowned champions got off to a flying start when they easily brushed aside Edendale Technikon 4-2 before their 4-2 drubbing of former KZN champions, JG Zuma to finish top of their group and successfully secure a place in the semi-finals of the competition.
The competition got a bit tougher for Glenwood in the semi-final stages of the tournament where they came up against Old Mill High School who drew their opening encounter 0-0 but did well to overcome Igugulesizwe High School 2-0 in their second match to advance to the semi-finals of the competition.
With a place in the finals and potential qualification to the COPA Coca-Cola National Championships at stake, Glenwood continued from where they left off with an impressive 3-1 win over Old Mill High School to set up a final against Tholithemba High School.
Tholithemba were just as impressive leading up to the finals. Their 5-0 win in their opening encounter against an unlucky Kwamyayiza Secondary School followed by a comfortable 4-0 win over Ubongumenzi High School saw them advance to the semi-finals where they edged a spirited Nciya Secondary School 1-0 to advance to the finals.
It was however, Glenwood who made use of their chances in the closely contested final against Tholithemba as they were crowned this year’s KwaZulu-Natal COPA Coca-Cola Provincial Champions after their 3-1 win over Tholithemba.
With Glenwood High School securing their spot to represent the KwaZulu-Natal province in the upcoming COPA Coca-Cola National Finals set to take place in Port Elizabeth between 26 and 29 September. The global U15 school’s tournament heads to the Free State province next weekend to determine who will represent the Free State province in the highly anticipated COPA Coca-Cola National Finals.
As an addition to this year’s COPA Coca-Cola tournament, Coca-Cola launched its COPA Coca-Cola Future Stars search. The future stars’ project seeks to handpick talented.
COPA Coca-Cola ambassador, Jabu Mahlangu alongside a team of talent scouts comprising of former players in Simba Marumo, Jabulani Mendu and SA U17 assistant coach, Vela Khumalo, will hand pick the talented players who will have an opportunity to be part of a unique training camp scheduled to take place at the High-Performance Centre in Pretoria later this year.