J Stars celebrate tournament victory

J Stars celebrated an impressive 3-1 win against Giyani All Stars at Sekhukhune Sports Ground situated in Winnie Mandela Zone 8, to become champions of the Sekhukhune top 8 tournament on 8 September.

The J Stars scored the first goal a mere 10 minutes into the game before doubling the scoring lines 2 minutes later. All the J Stars goals came from jersey number seven.

Leading 2-0 J Stars conceded in the 24th minutes after a long rage by Giyani All Stars defender. J Stars regained control of the game by creating multiple scoring opportunities but the Giyani All Stars goalkeeper made a brilliant save in the 31st minute when he punched the ball of the crossbar. Moments later, Giyani missed an opportunity to equalise when its striker headed the ball over the crossbar even though the net was undefended.

Just before half time J Stars found saw an opening and proceeded to score their third goal to take on a comfortable lead. By half time whistle, the score was at 3-1 in favour of the J Stars.

The tournament organisers and sponsors were in awe as they watched through the goalless second half. By the time the final whistle blew, the score remained 3-1 providing the J Stars with well-earned bragging rights. Event sponsor, Steve Marisana, said the purpose of hosting the soccer tournament was to get people off the streets and provide entertainment to reduce crime.

“We wanted to create relationships between the teams that will last beyond the tournament,” said Steve Marisana.

He continued to say, that they also want to encourage the youth to partake in sport, particularly soccer.

“The tournament started on Saturday and ended on Sunday, creating two days of fun and excitement for soccer fans. The winning team will be awarded R5000.00 and the runner-ups will walk away with R3000.00. The prizes will be beneficial to the development of the teams,” said Marisana.

Giyani All Stars coach Voster Marutha gave credit to the team since fatigue and fitness started to play part in the second half.

“I am very happy for the team to have reached the finals and walking away with a prize, it is better than having nothing, although I had hoped for us to win the match. We had our opportunities but we did not convert them to goals so the better team won,” said Marutha.

“It was not going to be an easy match against the Giyani All Stars, hence we played in a 4-4-1-1 formation. Our mistakes came from the back players when the four back players lost communication and conceded a goal but they quickly recovered,” said J Stars coach Shirame Stevensons.

“We were supposed to increase our lead even more if only our strikers had used the many opportunities they missed in the second half,” concludes Stevensons.

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