Tsakane Easter Soccer Tournament pulls in crowd

The tournament was conducted at the Tsakane Malandela Ground, with eight local senior teams going head to head and in two groups, where each club played three games and the top two teams automatically qualified for the semi-finals.

From the eight, the four teams that competed in the semi-finals were Bolivia FC, Movers FC, Amajuba FC and Kasi Flavour.

After two intense semi-final matches, it was Bolivia FC that challenged Amajuba FC in the final. The two sides played a 1-1 draw, but Bolivia FC scraped through in the final, winning 6-5 on penalties after sudden death.

This led them to walk away with first prize of R10 000, a new kit, trophy and 20 gold medals, while Amajuba got R4 000, kit and 20 silver medals.

Coach Ben Mazibuko of Bolivia FC shares his joy, saying that they are happy with the result as the team didn’t break its momentum in the four days.

“These games have really helped us a lot, especially since we have not won a tournament in such a long time.

“We have also had issues of booking the stadium for our SAB League games, so the money we have won will help us, as the remaining games we have to play both at home and away,” he says.

Phillip ‘Mzambiya’ Temba, the founder and coach of Amajuba, says the tournament was good for his team and he hopes that there will be more tournaments such as this one.

“The team enjoyed themselves, though there were some issues at the end with the referee.

“Our winning will definitely help us to progress as we only had one kit, but now we have something additional that is ours and which we all worked for as a team.

“I am proud of the guys because we have faced some challenges with some players but they have pulled through, so I hope they will continue to show this good performance,” says Temba.