Greek Queens crumble in the last hurdle of promotion
BALFOUR PARK – Athanassouli says they have no one to blame but ‘ourselves as we crumbled when it mattered most.
Croesus Ladies stumbled at the last hurdle of their arduous journey for promotion to the National Women’s League when they missed crucial penalties and thereby elevated Vasco Da Gama to the Hollywoodbets Super League.
The Croesus-Vasco semi-final match ended with the two sides tied 1–1. The winners of the two semi-final matches of the championship are guaranteed promotion to the Hollywoodbets League regardless of the outcome of the final match.
This will be the last time that the South African Football Association (Safa) will promote two teams to its Hollywoodbets-sponsored league. At the end of the 2022 Sasol League season, Safa will change the format to a promotion and relegation affair.
This means that only the winner of the Sasol League National Championship gets promoted while the bottom team in the Hollywoodbets Super League is automatically relegated.
As the teams were deadlocked after the 90 minutes, they went straight to penalties to decide who crosses the Jordan River for promotion. Vasco Da Gama won the match 4–3, after the Greek Queens failed to bang in two of their penalties while Vasco only missed one.
Disappointed manager of the team Maria Athanassouli said, “I am at a total loss for words as I thought we had one foot into the National Women’s League’s Hollywoodbets League. It was a case of so near yet so far.
“This is a dream shattered for all of us, the girls, myself, the coach and the entire technical staff and our admirers on the sides. We have no one to blame but ourselves as we crumbled when it mattered most. We just have to go back to the drawing board and map out a new strategy for the coming season.”
The winning team walks away with a cool R200 000 for their efforts while the runners-up take home R100 000 and third place R60 000.
