Will Minerva defend its crown?
ALEXANDRA – It’s good to be back though disappointed to be hosting a scaled down tournament, says Zwane.
It remains to be seen whether Minerva Secondary School boys’ soccer team, who are the 2019 champions of the 6th edition of the Sibusiso Cosmos Zwane Schools Tournament, will be able to successfully defend their crown.
Minerva played like rabid dogs and annihilated the defending champions Balfour Park’s Northview High School 6–0 in a one-sided match played at the Number 3 Square Grounds in Alexandra on September 21, 2019.
The 2020 edition of the tournament had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Tournament founder Sibusiso ‘Cosmos’ Zwane of the SCZ Foundation said, “I am happy to be back though disappointed to be hosting a scaled down tournament due to the unrelenting Covid-19 situation in the country. There is very little we can do but live with the situation and life must still go on.” Zwane is a former legend of Jomo Cosmos FC and that’s where he gets his nickname from.
The six secondary schools in Alexandra were automatically included in the narrowed down 7th edition. Tournament organisers decided to invite other schools in close proximity to Alex such as Northview High School, Sandtonview Combined School, Highlands North Boys High School and Wendywood High School.
Sandtonview subsequently withdrew just before the launch of the tournament and were replaced by Berea’s Barnato Park High School boys’ team.
Member of the tournament’s local organising committee Percy Ndaba, a former teacher at Barnato Park, said the four invited schools would play a preliminary qualification round on September 9, with the two winners progressing to the quarter-final knockout stages of the competition to join the six Alex schools for the opening round on September 10.
Both soccer and netball games will be played at the tournament’s bio bubble, the Number 3 Square Sports Ground on Thursdays and Fridays leading up to the final on September 30.
