One Nation victorious in Kopanong Top 4 Tournament
Ivory Park teams settle the scores on the field
One Nation walked away victorious after playing against Dzumeri United at the off-season Kopanong Top 4 Tournament at Kopanong Sports Ground in Ivory Park on March 9.
One Nation showed dominance when they controlled much of the ball possession and created scoring chances, until the 20-minute mark when Dzumeri United got a chance to change the scoring board, but didn’t.
Both teams went to half-time with a 0-0 score. As the game continued to second half, signs of strains started to be visible among players and the level of concentration dropped, creating an opportunity for Dzumeri United to get the ball at the back of the net, having a 1-0 lead against One Nation in 78 minutes. Before the final whistle, One Nation equalised to get the game to the penalty shoot-outs where they won 5-4.
Dzumeri United coach Thanks Ngobeni said they played very well, particularly in the second half but one mere mistake cost them the game.
“During the first half, we were dominated but we managed to read the game and got back. In the second half, we maintained position but they then started to be aggressive and knocked our players off the game.
“Another thing is that we had one of our strikers injured, his leg was broken during our previous match. We need a full- force striker to score us goals,” said Ngobeni.
One Nation coach Jeffery Mathe said it was not a tough game to begin with as they had much control in the first half and in the second half, they had control of where the ball was mostly played at.
“We couldn’t allow them to play on our 18 area so we pushed them back to their half ground. We created our scoring chances but we had one to put behind the net. Due to our goal keeper’s brilliant save we won the game at the penalties.
