The SA under-12 national soccer team jetted off to Paris to defend their title at the Danone Nations Cup World Championship.

They won the tournament last year, under coach Harold Legodi, when they beat Portugal 2-0 in the final. However, after taking France by storm, none of the same players have qualified for the team this year as the South African Football Association (Safa) wanted to give as many youngsters as possible a chance to travel.

Legodi has been replaced by Serame Letsoaka and his side is drawn with Czech Republic, USA and Mexico in Group G.

Thirty-two countries will be represented at the Danone Championship annual tournament which was first held in 2000.

A squad of 14 players travelled to Paris for the nine-aside game, the majority of whom had never before been inside an airplane.

Local parents were there to comfort their nervous children but those who had travelled from outside of Gauteng found solace in the presence of their hero, the humble-mannered Moshoeu, who appeared from out of nowhere.

The former Bafana Bafana player, who spent 10 years playing in Turkey, said moral support played a most pivotal role for all sportsmen.

"I was here before the boys left last year and they came back with the trophy; I just hope that the Shoes Magic does wonders again," he said jokingly.

The defending Danone Champions are accompanied on tour by SABC's YO.TV presenter, Johannesburg-based Karabo Ntshweng and eleven-year-old Carmen Soobramoney from Durban.

Ntshweng, 12, an aspiring young journalist, has been assigned by the sponsors to do a full report on the tournament when she gets back home.

Carmen, a Grade six pupil at Parklands Primary School, won a competition on YO.TV to travel with the team.