Real Mighty alone on the field against Athletico
Giyani Athletico Ladies from Ward 13 in Giyani Section-F suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Real Mighty Ladies from Mavalani village in the women’s soccer category of the Mayor’s Cup tournament.
The game between the two teams was one-sided. It was as if Real Mighty was playing alone as they dominated the game from the first minute to the last whistle. Those who watched the match probably asked themselves how Athletico Ladies made it to the finals.
Firstly, one would wonder why their coach, Hlawulani Ndlovu, would field an injured defender in the first half who clearly could be seen limping and was not effective at all in stopping the attacking strikers from passing through. This resulted in four goals in the first half of the game. By the time she was substituted in the second half, it was already too late to catch up with the Real Mighty Ladies.
Also read: Mninginisi are Mayor’s Cup champions
They made a similar mistake in the semifinals. They fielded a goalkeeper who had no idea how to catch the ball. Fortunately, they substituted her quickly before the damage was extensive, and were able to catch up and eventually win the match. After the previous match, Ndlovu had promised to work on defending tactics.
However, the Sunday match was devoid of that, resulting in a humiliating defeat in front of a packed stadium. Real Mighty pocketed R15 100 plus gold medals, kits, and soccer balls for winning the tournament. Giyani Athletico received R12 100 plus silver medals, soccer kits, and balls. The third and fourth teams went home with R9 100 and R7 100 respectively, and kits and balls.
