A cracking day of junior soccer action came to an exciting climax when Zamokuhle Junior Secondary School were crowned Champions of the Copa Coca-Cola Eastern Cape U15 finals in Mdantsane on Saturday afternoon.
The Alfred Nzo regional winners were in great form to go through the tournament unbeaten and claim a close 2-1 win over OR Tambo region’s Guqaza Junior Secondary in the main match.
“I am very happy for the team, they are not yet proper soccer players, they are still young boys, but they have now learnt to match their skills against players from other regions and win a final,” said Zamokuhle coach Thabo Bilibawe.
“Coming here our goal was to win, I have been here many times and won it previously, but we knew it was going to be hard and it was as you saw with the final.”
The final looked as though it was heading just one way as Zamokuhle took a two-goal lead in the second half and seemed to be cruising, but a late flurry from Guqaza saw them reduce the deficit and then come mighty close to a smash and grab draw.
“I was very proud of the boys after that finish, especially my defenders and holding midfielders who did very well keeping to our tactics and securing the win in the end,” said Bilibawe.
With Zamokuhle kicking off the match they immediately started brightly passing the ball around with ease.
However Guqaza showed that they would be dangerous on the break with an attack down the left hand touchline in the third minute ending with the ball coming in and the first shot at goal, although it was an easy save for the Zamokuhle goalkeeper.
A minute later they were ahead as a wonderful through ball found right wing Senoe Senoe open in the box on the right and he hit a good shot across the ’keeper and into the bottom left-hand side netting to open the scoring. The rest of the half then saw Zamokuhle on top with more possession.
With the score just 1-0 at half time it was still anyone’s game, but it was Zamokuhle who then doubled their lead in the 28th minute.
They received a free kick outside the box on the right which midfielder Congasani Khesa hit with venom to beat the goalkeeper’s dive and make it 2-0.
The wind had been blowing the whole day and with under 10 minutes left the rain started, which seemed to slow down the play as both teams began cancelling each other out.
With just a minute to go a hopeful ball was sent into the box and with a scramble ensuing the ball bounced off a few players before ricocheting into the net to give Guqaza some hope.
Their late charge then saw a couple of half-chances, including a free kick outside the box on the left, but when the kick was scooped over the bar, time was up and Zamokuhle celebrated a well earned victory.
The team now moves on to the national finals as Eastern Cape champs later this year where they will meet the best of the rest from around the country.
“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us,” admitted Bilibawe.
“I saw a lot of mistakes from my guys during the games and we will need to work on all of those before the nationals, but I believe by that time we will be ready.”
In the morning session the tournament got underway, with two streams of three and four teams, with the top two progressing to the final.
In stream A Guqaza were joined by Amathole champs Phutuma JSS, Chris Hani’s Ekuphumleni SSS and Nelson Mandela Metro’s Ndzondelelo SSS.
This group proved to be extremely challenging with no school emerging unscathed.
Phutuma opened proceedings with a 2-0 win over Ekuphumleni, while Guqaza started with a 2-1 loss against Ndzondelelo.
Phutuma then took control of the group as they beat Ndzondelelo 1-0, however Guqaza gave themselves a chance, bouncing back with a thumping 4-1 win over Ekuphumleni.
Guqaza then sealed their progress with a superb 5-0 thumping of Phutuma, while Ekuphumleni also managed a win, beating Ndzondelelo 2-1.
In stream B Zamokuhle were up against Joe Gqabi’s Tapoleng JSS and Sarah Baartman’s Velile JSS.
Zamokuhle drew 1-1 with Velile and beat Tapoleng 2-0 while the last game ended 1-1 between Velile and Tapoleng, allowing Zamokuhle to progress to the finals.
Zamokuhle come out on top
The Alfred Nzo regional winners were in great form to go through the tournament unbeaten and claim a close 2-1 win over OR Tambo region’s Guqaza Junior Secondary in the main match.
“I am very happy for the team, they are not yet proper soccer players, they are still young boys, but they have now learnt to match their skills against players from other regions and win a final,” said Zamokuhle coach Thabo Bilibawe.
“Coming here our goal was to win, I have been here many times and won it previously, but we knew it was going to be hard and it was as you saw with the final.”
The final looked as though it was heading just one way as Zamokuhle took a two-goal lead in the second half and seemed to be cruising, but a late flurry from Guqaza saw them reduce the deficit and then come mighty close to a smash and grab draw.
“I was very proud of the boys after that finish, especially my defenders and holding midfielders who did very well keeping to our tactics and securing the win in the end,” said Bilibawe.
With Zamokuhle kicking off the match they immediately started brightly passing the ball around with ease.
However Guqaza showed that they would be dangerous on the break with an attack down the left hand touchline in the third minute ending with the ball coming in and the first shot at goal, although it was an easy save for the Zamokuhle goalkeeper.
A minute later they were ahead as a wonderful through ball found right wing Senoe Senoe open in the box on the right and he hit a good shot across the ’keeper and into the bottom left-hand side netting to open the scoring. The rest of the half then saw Zamokuhle on top with more possession.
With the score just 1-0 at half time it was still anyone’s game, but it was Zamokuhle who then doubled their lead in the 28th minute.
They received a free kick outside the box on the right which midfielder Congasani Khesa hit with venom to beat the goalkeeper’s dive and make it 2-0.
The wind had been blowing the whole day and with under 10 minutes left the rain started, which seemed to slow down the play as both teams began cancelling each other out.
With just a minute to go a hopeful ball was sent into the box and with a scramble ensuing the ball bounced off a few players before ricocheting into the net to give Guqaza some hope.
Their late charge then saw a couple of half-chances, including a free kick outside the box on the left, but when the kick was scooped over the bar, time was up and Zamokuhle celebrated a well earned victory.
The team now moves on to the national finals as Eastern Cape champs later this year where they will meet the best of the rest from around the country.
“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us,” admitted Bilibawe.
“I saw a lot of mistakes from my guys during the games and we will need to work on all of those before the nationals, but I believe by that time we will be ready.”
In the morning session the tournament got underway, with two streams of three and four teams, with the top two progressing to the final.
In stream A Guqaza were joined by Amathole champs Phutuma JSS, Chris Hani’s Ekuphumleni SSS and Nelson Mandela Metro’s Ndzondelelo SSS.
This group proved to be extremely challenging with no school emerging unscathed.
Phutuma opened proceedings with a 2-0 win over Ekuphumleni, while Guqaza started with a 2-1 loss against Ndzondelelo.
Phutuma then took control of the group as they beat Ndzondelelo 1-0, however Guqaza gave themselves a chance, bouncing back with a thumping 4-1 win over Ekuphumleni.
Guqaza then sealed their progress with a superb 5-0 thumping of Phutuma, while Ekuphumleni also managed a win, beating Ndzondelelo 2-1.
In stream B Zamokuhle were up against Joe Gqabi’s Tapoleng JSS and Sarah Baartman’s Velile JSS.
Zamokuhle drew 1-1 with Velile and beat Tapoleng 2-0 while the last game ended 1-1 between Velile and Tapoleng, allowing Zamokuhle to progress to the finals.
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