No fear for UJ in Varsity Football final
JOBURG – Fearless University of Johannesburg football team ready for the final hurdle.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has no fear of taking on an unbeaten Tshwane University of Technology (Tut) in the final of the Varsity Football tournament in Tshwane on 22 September.
UJ and Tut qualified for the final when they won their semifinals last week, ironically by identical margins in penalty shootouts against Central University of Technology (Cut) and NWU-Mafikeng respectively.
The Johannesburg outfit and Cut played to a 1–1 draw in Bloemfontein before UJ took the penalty shootout 4–3; while Tut and NWU were goalless at the end of regulation time in Tshwane.
UJ coach Mandla Zwane said they were determined to improve on their 2014 runners-up performance when the only game they lost was against UP-Tuks in the final.
Last year UJ failed to qualify for the Varsity Football tournament but have now made amends, said the coach. “This is what we wanted to achieve because it gives us the chance to bury the memories of 2014. We now want to go one better than what we did two years ago.”
The UJ mentor said playing in Tshwane did not bother them. “We have been good playing away from home and this team is good enough to handle the conditions in Tshwane. I do not want to sound arrogant but we’re one of only two teams to take points off Tut,” he said in reference to their 1–1 draw at the Tut Stadium.
UJ also showed their ability to handle conditions away from home when they beat NWU-Mafikeng 6–2 in their opening game; and Fort Hare 4–2 in their final fixture before the playoffs.
The win over Fort Hare was a crucial one in that it enabled UJ to qualify for the semis after they had dropped points in other matches.
Zwane, though, never lost faith in his team’s ability to qualify for the last four. “The teams that were above us were also dropping points. I just kept telling the boys that they must believe we can go through and that’s how it turned out.”
