Idiskie nine-nine soccer tournament a success
Duduza team lost on home ground in the finals
Duduza – Idiskie nine-nine, in partnership with the Jobe Foundation, hosted their Easter Soccer Tournament from April 27 to May 1 at the Bluegumview grounds in Duduza.
Tournament director Sizwe Nqubezelo said the event was supposed to take place on the Easter weekend but it was postponed because of the All-White concert hosted by the Jobe Foundation at the Duduza Stadium on April 8.
The tournament saw teams from Duduza, Kwa-Thema, Daveyton, Soweto, Balfour and Watville participate.
The fixture for the knockout stages saw the following teams face each other:
– Wattville United vs Bazingeli
– 323 FC vs Esgangeni
– Khushu Never Die vs JST Valentine
– Metro Stars vs Paris FC
– Amajubjub Farm JV vs Masipa All Stars
– Zwide Ka Langa vs Afro XI
– Scathulo Sika Madam vs 18 USB
– Real Touch FC vs City All Stars
The opening game was between Amajubub and Masipa All Stars, who were knocked out by four goals to three.
After some teams were knocked out in the group stages, the following went through to the quarter-finals with the following fixture:
– Khushu Never Die vs Real Touch
– Wattville United vs Scathulo Sika Madam
– Amajubujub vs Esgangeni
– Paris FC vs Afro XI
The quarter-finals took place on Saturday.
The first game in the quarter-finals saw Khushu Never Die dying at the hands of Real Touch when they lost 2-1.
Real Touch scored first, and the game went into halftime with the score at 1-0. Coming back in the second half, Khushu fought and equalised.
Though Khushu attacked, they failed to equalise after Real Touch scored the winning goal. Some games were moved to Sunday because of bad weather.
The semis and the finals took place on Monday.
It was a tough semi between the crowd’s favourite, Scathulo Sika Madam, and Real Touch (the team with the youngest players in the tournament).
Scathulo Sika Madam scored the first goal, and Real Touch equalised toward the end of the first half.
The second half saw Scathulo score their second goal, and Real Touch equalised, which led to penalties. Scathulo lost after missing three, but Real Touch only missed two.
Both teams scored one goal each in the penalties. Real Touch went to the finals, where they faced Paris FC.
Paris FC, from Balfour, won the tournament by 3-0 and the R50 000 grand prize, while Real Touch walked away with R10 000.
Paris FC coach Bhuti ‘Coach Mabutana’ Lubisi was thankful to the tournament organisers, sponsors, team managers and the community of Duduza for making them feel at home.
“We felt as though we were at our second home. We were welcomed and are grateful for that,” he said.
Mabutana said the tournament was well organised and encouraged other teams to participate in away tournaments.
“People usually think they will lose tournaments if they play in foreign communities. However, that is not the case,” Mabutana said.
He said he hopes that a few years from now, Safa will start visiting informal settlements when there are tournaments because there is a lot of talent to see.
Mabutana also said they gained fans in Duduza and were the first team from their municipality (Dipaleseng) to win such a grand prize that will inspire many young players.
Nqubezelo said he is grateful to their sponsors, the Jobe Foundation, Clientele, B3 and Bakubung.
