It was a victorious weekend for most of Prestige Football Academy’s teams this weekend. The Florida-based U/15 team catapulted themselves to second place in the SAFA Academy League against Diaspora Football Academy at the Hoërskool Die Burger’s soccer field.
The two teams were evenly matched in midfield but Prestige looked the more threatening of the two sides in attack. The teams remained deadlocked as they traded blows until Diaspora committed a foul in the 18-yard box. Prestige was awarded a penalty and did not waste the opportunity, going one-up in the match. Going down by a goal did not dampen the spirits of Diaspora as they continued to fight for an equaliser. They came close on a few occasions but their final touch in crucial areas let them down.
The first half of the match ended with Prestige leading 1–0. The second half started out competitively, with Diaspora pushing for an early equaliser. However, the visiting team once again committed a foul in their own 18-yard area and conceded their second penalty of the match. Prestige made no mistake as they converted the penalty to lead the match 2–0.
Although they were leading the match, Prestige did not rest, and continued to push for another goal. Diaspora’s defence conceded another goal towards the end of the match which put paid to any thoughts of a comeback. Prestige saw the match through to the end in comfort, and now sit in second place on the log table. Their coach, Siphamandla Mthethwa, was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Playing in the second round of the league, the team did well and I am very proud of them. The players have not rested since the season began and fatigue is starting to set in, especially with exams coming up. So we are not training as often as before and we are resting the players. The players are learning and improving which is great. We have started promoting younger players into the team while some of the boys in the U/15 team have been promoted to the U/17 team in preparation for the next season. I am happy we have achieved a good result today and had a chance to promote some players to get experience. At the end of it all, it’s all about the players and their development. Some of the inclusions had a bit of a problem with their first touch at the beginning but as the game played on, they settled into the match.”
The U/13 team which played their Diaspora counterparts lost 0–1 but remain top of their league table while Prestige’s U/17s drew one-all against Diaspora. The U/17 team is in fourth place on the league table. The Prestige U/19 team sits in eighth place on the league table after a 6–0 drubbing of Diaspora.
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