Football teams go head to head for semi-finals spot

Only the best football clubs Nkomazi has to offer made it to the semi-finals of the second edition of the Tsamaya Cup.

This came to light this weekend when teams met to determine who would go through to the next round of the tournament.

Naughty Boys and Middelplaas All Blacks were the first to contest for a place in the semi-final. The clash kicked off as a typical derby encounter with both sides wanting to keep as much ball possession as possible. Both sides created some great opportunities, but failed to take any as the teams went into the half-time interval.

All Blacks created most of the scoring opportunities in the opening minutes of the second half. However, the game ended as a stalemate with both sides failing to register a goal. The decision of who will reserve a place in the semi-final went on to be determined in a penalty shootout.

Naughty Boys emerged victorious with a 5-3 win over All Blacks, and secured their place in the semi-finals. The defending Tsamaya Cup champions, Magogeni Classic, narrowly escaped defeat at the feet of Middelplaas Black Rovers.

A 1-0 victory was all it took for the defending champions to retain their hopes of successfully defending their title. Tempers nearly reached boiling point when Mashaba United clashed with their hometown rivals, Mbokodo Wondrous. Mashaba United were the most impressive of both sides from the opening of the match, controlling the middle of the park and creating most of the chances in the opening minutes.

However, Mbokodo Wondrous were not awarding Mashaba United a free game.

Both sides went into half-time drawn at 0-0, and the break proved to be much-needed one for Wondrous who were under pressure.

When the second stanza got underway, United continued to exert themselves on Wondrous, attacking them from the wings. For United the second half was a series of missed opportunities, and for Wondrous it became a time of desperate defending.

The third place in the last four also had to be decided on penalties, with United emerging victorious with a slender 3-2 win.

Supporters were treated to a five-goal thriller in the last clash of the day when Ocean Swallows took on Schoemansdal Junior Aces. There was nothing cagey about this clash with Junior Aces finding the opening goal in the first half of the encounter. Ocean Swallows managed to find a much-needed equalizer, however, it would only go down as a consolidation goal in a 4-1 scoreline.

The organiser of the tournament, Mr Mfanukhona Shongwe, was pleased with the sportsmanship shown by players ad supporters.

“I am very happy with how the tournament has gone so far, we have not had any violent incidents. In the past, a match between Highlanders and Mbokodo Wondrous would turn violent and result in players and supporters chasing them into one another’s yards. We have not had any of that.”

Shongwe furthermore thanked the support they received since the start of the tournament. He was also happy with the talent which was unearthed.

“One of the goals we set out to achieve when we introduced this tournament, was to find and nurture local football talent. And I feel we have successfully done so.”

Saturday September 20

13:00 – Schoemansdal Junior Aces vs Magogeni Classic

15:00 – Mashaba United vs Naughty Boys