It’s amazing how much can change in a year in sport; look at the performances of Tuks’ men’s soccer team in the Varsity Tournament.
In last year’s tournament, the team’s inability to score goals was a big problem. In its first six matches, Tuks could only score 6 goals. The statistics don’t tell the whole story. Tuks beat CUT 5-0 in its sixth match, which means they scored only 1 goal in their first five matches.
This year it’s a completely different story. Last Friday in Durban, Tuks beat DUT 3-0. This brings Tuks’ goal tally to 8 in four matches.
If Ntokozo Madela is to be believed, the numbers will change a lot in the next three weeks. His reaction to Friday’s game was, “Three points, three goals, I am so happy. It means that Tuks scored the most goals of the tournament. But we are not finished. There are still a lot of goals that are going to be scored by us.”
Madela, a final-year education student, has just reason to be motivated. He wants to end his playing days for Tuks holding the Varsity Trophy aloft. He has never had the privilege to do so.
He makes no secret of his role on the team: “I am going to score goals. I owe it to the team.”
That is exactly what he has been doing. So far, he has scored three goals, the most by a Tuks player. Tuks’s other goal scorers are: MatomeRangata (2), Samukelo Ngodela (1), Paballo Mamabelo (1) and Philasande Khuzwayo (1).
“What was special was that I got to score the opening goal for Tuks with my family and friends from Durban cheering me on,” said Madela.
On Friday in Johannesburg, Tuks will play Wits. Madela is quick to say that Tuks should not underestimate Wits.
“They will be with their tails up, especially after losing to UJ in the Johannesburg derby. The biggest mistake we could make is to be overconfident. Experience has taught me that each game has its own unique story. You never know how it is going to end, so you’ve got to be at your best each time you take to the field.”
Tuks’s captain, Mamabelo, said about the DUT encounter, “We knew we would win if we could keep a clean slate. We did not concede any ‘scrappy’ goals. I am a happy captain. Ours was a solid performance. We managed to dominate.”
Joshua Wood praised Tuks’s two wingers, MatomeRangata and Risen Albert.
“They were brilliant in the way they got us out of trouble time and again. They have got the knack of chipping the ball over the top. Kudos to DUT; they did catch us off guard at first with the way they played. We had to adapt and change the way we played in the first half.
“The turnabout happened in the second half when we resorted to playing our game plan. That was when we really started to dominate. We held onto the ball and played through the lines. We were also able to tire DUT out.”
Kick-off for Friday’s game at Wits is 18:30.It is a must-win game for both teams, as both teams have won twice and lost twice, which means they are respectively third and fourth on the log with seven points.
