Grannies grab goals at World Cup in S. Africa

Mbele Nonhlanhla laced up her silver boots as her coach shouted encouragement to creaky knees, stiff backs and laboured breathing in a dressing room in South Africa's far north.

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TZANEEN - Mbele Nonhlanhla laced up her silver boots as her coach shouted encouragement to creaky knees, stiff backs and laboured breathing in a dressing room in South Africa's far north.

At 63, wearing jersey No. 10 and sporting brown-dyed hair, the grandmother of seven was far from your typical footballer when she stepped onto the field for her first international tournament.

"I feel like a superstar," Nonhlanhla grinned, revealing a missing tooth. "They call me the goal machine."

Her team, Vuka Soweto, hails from the renowned township of Soweto, outside Johannesburg.

They had joined more than a dozen others from across Africa and beyond to compete last week at the Grannies International Football Tournament in the northern province of Limpopo.

The four-day "Grannies World Cup" was held in a stadium with mountain views, and the 30-minute games were played in two halves at a slow but purposeful pace, between teams from as far as the United States, France and Togo.