Tournament a major success

MASTER Minds Ladies were crowned the champions of the inaugural Talent Discovery u/19 Ladies Tournament, which was held at the Seshego Steel Firms grounds on Saturday.

A scrambled goal against the run of play by Basetsana Mojapelo ensured Bakone Ladies rue their missed penalty early in the second half, paving a way for Master Minds Ladies to take home gold medals and a trophy with a 1-0 victory.

Bakone Ladies, based in Shayandima outside Thohoyandou, walloped Retla Dira Ladies 6-0 to book their place in the final, while Master Minds Ladies cruised past Modimolle Ladies with a 3-1 win.

The tournament was organised by Reaaga Learning Academy and it was aimed at unearthing young talent which could represent Limpopo province in the national Absa Ladies Championship. “Head coach of Master Minds Ladies, Molatelo Sebata praised the team for what she termed “great determination and fighting spirit”.

She said for a team that was assembled hardly a week before the tournament, they surpassed expectations.

“The teams we played against were using players with Absa and Sasol leagues experience and we just collected girls from nowhere and formed a team. We could have lost the match but our girls outdid themselves and we are proud champions,” said Sebata, a central defender at Kanatla Ladies FC.

The tournament organiser, Mkuseli Godlwana said they were doing their bit to see the development of ladies soccer in the province, saying they could not just sit and blame the South African Football Association (Safa) for the slow development of women’s soccer in the province.

“We do not have an Absa League in the Capricorn district and that means u/19 women do not get the time to play.

This tournament helped us identify talent and we will keep these players in our database and whenever we have to assemble a team to represent the province, we know who to turn to,” Ngodlwana said.

A team of 22 players was selected during the tournament, with head coach of the Safa FNB 2010 Legacy Programme, Justice Mutileni, and SAB League club, Peace United head coach, Paen Nkhwashu heading the team of selectors.

Mutileni welcomed the announcement by Ngodlwana who said the tournament would be staged annually.

“We scouted a talent which did not know our province. This tournament will help us assemble a strong provincial team which will be able to compete against other provinces,” concluded Mutileni.