Premier League team fail to honour final
Sunday's top-four soccer tournament of the Nkomazi Cup was full of action and drama, especially when Platinum Stars left before their final match.
The Kamhlushwa Stadium was packed on Sunday with passionate fans eager for their soccer fix, and organisers had their hands full calming down the crowd after Platinum Stars left before their game.
The Nkomazi Cup’s top four teams came from all over and provided the crowd with top-notch soccer entertainment. The Nkomazi-based Langeloop Blue Crane were defeated 2-0 by Witbank Spurs, Mbombela United and Platinum Stars (which are thirteenth in the Premier Soccer League rankings) played a 0-0 draw, with the latter winning 3-2 on penalties, and PSL Masters lost 3-1 to Nkomazi Masters.
Witbank Spurs and Platinum Stars were slated to play in the final match, but the latter were dissatisfied with their treatment at the tournament and withdrew.
According to the coach, they were not given food, which led to various problems and later resulted to them deciding to leave.
Fans who came just to see the finals were in an uproar and demanded their money back.
Organisers managed to calm the situation by arranging that Mbombela United replace Platinum Stars. The team were already on their way back to Mbombela, and had to borrow a fellow team’s jerseys to play.
The game had fans on the edge of their seats in the first half, with action in both teams’ territory. During the second half, Witbank Spurs seemed to be dominating the game but Clifford Mulenga from Mbombela United gave them strong opposition.
The fans were up in song, rallying behind Mbombela United. The game ended on a 0-0 draw. During the penalties, all five players from each team managed to score and the game had to move to sudden death.
Here, Inky Masuku from Mbombela United failed to score the sixth penalty, leaving Witbank Spurs to score the win.
Tsepo Ntia, the Witbank Spurs coach thanked Mbombela United for making the trip to Nkomazi memorable. He said it acted as a good practice game for their match against Magesi FC from Limpopo on February 11.
Mbombela United’s Clifford Mulenga said they played in the final because they did not want to let the supporters down. “We love the people of Nkomazi and we hope they will continue to support us,” he stated.
The team’s coach, Ashwin Sutton, expressed his disappointment with Platinum Stars’ behaviour. “I think they could have honoured the game for these passionate football lovers. As a team, I feel we owed it to the people of Nkomazi, and we have done what we could. Well done to the Witbank Spurs,” he concluded.
