Nkosi’s career rides the crest of a wave
JOBURG - The football career of the chief architect of the downfall of Alex United when they played bottom of the ABC Motsepe League side, North West University's Vaal Campus Football Club, Sifiso Nkosi, is riding the crest of a wave.
The football career of the chief architect of the downfall of Alex United when they played bottom of the ABC Motsepe League side, North West University’s Vaal Campus Football Club, Sifiso Nkosi, is riding the crest of a wave.
Nkosi is one of the players from the lower divisions selected for the national U23 squad that returned from Palestine on 16 March en route to Khartoum to take on Sudan in their first Olympic qualifier match.
The gangling striker was enemy number one of the United team, as he gave the defenders of the Hope City Giants a torrid time, when assistant coach Tlou ‘Jomo’ Mabotja moved him in the second half of the game from a defensive position to complement the strike force.
The move paid dividends as Nkosi hassled the defence with his height, winning most of the aerial balls either as headers inside the box or for control and shoot purposes. In no time, his striking partner Thebe Tumelo found the back of the net from Nkosi’s hard work to level the scores at 1-1.
Nkosi himself hammered the final nail into the coffin of United in the dying minutes of the game when the lanky striker hit a volley past the United goal-minder into the back of the net. He clinched the much-needed victory that allowed his side to collect maximum points from a team in the second spot.
His abilities and talents have not gone unnoticed as he was one of more than 40 players selected for a week-long camp for the Castle Lager Football Academy earlier this year. That squad was later whittled to 23 players and he still made the grade, and now earned himself a berth in the U23 squad.
“When we scouted him, I immediately realised that he was a superbly talented boy,” said scout and former coach of the Castle SuperStars, Neil Tovey during an interview after one of their games.
Nkosi and fellow Castle SuperStars player Bafana Dlamini from Remember FC in the Mpumalanga SAB Leagues tream were invited for trials together with 40 other players by U23 mentor, Owen Da Gama. They were named in the 23-men squad for a Palestine friendly en route to Khartoum. Nkosi featured in the starting line-up that won 2-1.
