Ndengeza FC out of Mayor’s Cup
Despite an impressive performance that saw them take the lead in the first half of the Mayor’s Cup tournament match against Hlomela FC at Giyani stadium on Saturday, July 20 the tables turned in the last minutes, resulting in their knockout from the tournament.
Ndengeza FC started on a high note, attacking their opponents from all directions and not giving them a chance to breathe. It did not take long before they found the net and took the lead 1-0. Their attack did not stop there; on several occasions, they came close to scoring a second goal. A shot from one of their strikers rebounded off the inner part of the post as they kept up the pressure on their opponent.
Other shots flew over the posts, missing the net by a small margin, leading everyone at the stadium to believe they were going to advance to the top sixteen. During the second half, Hlomela FC returned energised and determined to catch up with their opponent after a pep talk from their coach. However, it was not an easy task as they faced strong resistance from Ndengeza FC, who had already shifted from an attacking to a defensive play.
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With unyielding persistence, Hlomela FC ultimately managed to slip the ball into the net just a few minutes before the referee blew the whistle to end the match. This brought the score to 1-1 and sent the two teams to a penalty shootout. Just like that, a great display of football was overshadowed in the last minutes.
Despite a good performance on the field, Ndengeza FC performed poorly in the penalty shootout, with three missed shots, while Hlomela FC only missed one shot that went over the post. This resulted in Ndengeza FC losing 3-1 to Hlomela FC, and therefore, bowing out of the Mayor’s Cup tournament. Meanwhile, according to municipal spokesperson, Steve Mavunda, this year’s budget for soccer alone is R72 000. The winner will receive R25 000, followed by R19 100 for the second runner-up.
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The third-place team will get R11 600, while the fourth team will receive R9 100. Teams finishing in fifth to eighth place will each receive R2 000. Responding to critics who say the prize money is too little for the municipality, Mavunda said the tourney is not a one-winnertakes-all tournament but meant to develop young people; the municipality cannot allocate all the money to only one team.
“We have to consider our role as a municipality in developing and encouraging children to participate in sports, and you can’t do that by allocating all the money to one team and ignoring the effort of all other teams that participated in the tournament,” he said. Mavunda added that all the teams participating in the tournament will receive free kits at the end of the event, as part of the municipality’s efforts to promote sports development.
