The fact that Tuks lost 1-0 to UJ last night does not mean that their claim to be crowned Varsity Football champions is over.
The cruel reality, however, is that for the next three weeks, the Tuks team will have to play basically flawless football. There can be no more excuses for why the team is not scoring goals. The Tuks team probably set a new record last night in Johannesburg by not scoring a goal for a fourth consecutive game. It is unclear when, or if, this has ever happened.
As things stand, Tuks are sixth in the standings with three points. UJ tops the log with 10 points, followed by TUT with 8. Wits and Kovsies both have 7 points, and Northwest has 5.
UJ is currently the only team guaranteed to play in the semi-finals. With three games left to play, UJ will likely gain another 6 points. Kovsies, TUT, Wits and Noordwes will have several crunch games when they face each other. These are games where any one team can win on a good day.
Tuks’ make-or-break game is on Thursday when they host Wits. As far as Tuks are concerned, there can only be one outcome, and that is to win. A draw would be a death blow to Tuks’ bid for the Varsity trophy.
According to Tuks captain, Edward Rankwe, the one positive right now is that everything is not lost.
“We don’t have to do a lot of calculation. The outcome of our Varsity campaign is still in our hands. As for last night’s game against UJ, overall, we played much better than we did against Northwest the previous week. I would say that we dominated the play for most of the game. We created scoring opportunities. But kudos to UJ’s goalkeeper. He was brilliant. Dominating without scoring does not give you three points.
“It might sound like a cliche, but we need to go back to the drawing board. Our attacking players need to do some introspection. They are all good players; there is no reason for them not to be able to score goals. I can promise you this: we will keep knocking. We have no choice but to do so. We have to score. We just have to.
“Without underestimating any team, but I feel we can get the results we need in the next three games. But it is going to be important to take it one game at a time.”
Kickoff for Thursday’s game against Wits at Tuks is 18:30.
