South Africa Scores Twice In Win Against Uruguay

South Africa defeated Uruguay 2-0 in Moshate, a rural community miles away from the excitement and vibrance of Pretoria, the city that will be hosting the official matchup in just a few hours. And even though Bafana Bafana local strikers went by the names of Ofentse Maaka and Mashishi Donald, and the audience totalled 100 spectators, spirits were high in this unique community-based football tournament.

This game, played a day ahead of the official confrontation between these two nations, is part of a broader holiday programme combining soccer, life skills training and a competition called the SCORE Cup. This community-based soccer tournament has been designed by SCORE, a South African-based Sport and Development non-profit organisation.

The programme is expected to involve and engage more than 9000 children and youth in more than 45 communities throughout South Africa, and thus ensure that the excitement related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup is also shared in the rural and disadvantaged communities in which SCORE operates.

The SCORE Cup competition kicked off on June 9th with a draw for the 32 teams to determine which country they will represent. The matches commenced on June 10th and will continue for 2 weeks until June 25th, with daily soccer skills and life skills sessions for the participants. The final tournament will be on June 26th in all the participating communities.

Anyone has the ability to follow the latest updates related to the SCORE Cup through an innovative online community launched last week. Making use of cell-phone technology, participating communities have been uploading pictures and updates directly from the field onto the Internet. This community-driven website will provide you with the most surprising facts and figures directly from the communities. Follow the SCORE Cup on http://scorefor2010.ning.com.

Local and overseas visitors are invited to experience a different side of football in South Africa by participating in an informative and interactive sport and development tour to one of the communities participating in the SCORE Cup. In addition, adventurous football fans travelling to South Africa can bring their soccer boots, sign up as a player and experience the excitement of the SCORE Cup by playing in the tournament.

Key communities hosting the full SCORE Cup programme are Mbekweni, Hanover Park, Khayelitsha (all three in the Western Cape, close to Cape Town), Moshate (between Pretoria and Polokwane), and Schoemansdal (close to Nelspruit).

For more information or to arrange a media visit, please contact Koogan Pillay at 084 656 9162 or [email protected], or visit the SCORE website.