Hot league fare on Super Sunday menu
EAST London Central Local Football Association is gearing up for another Super Sunday of exciting knockout cup football when the premier league heavyweights square off against each other for a berth in the 3rd Edition Noel Mein cup quarterfinals.
The second round draw has not been kind to Noel Mein Cup champions Seagulls and the 2015 winners and last season’s runners up Riverside as they square off for the second time in a cup tie this season at 3.30pm.
This will be a repeat of the 2017 EL Central fifth Anniversary first round explosive knockout cup clash, which saw Seagulls triumph 2-1. Seagulls is currently edging their arch-rivals in head to heads in cup competitions after they also recorded a 2-0 win in an epic 2016 Noel Mein Cup final.
Riverside, however, had the better of the C C Lloyd-based green and whites in the 2016 Premier Top 8 when they defeated them 2-1.
Riverside coach Kelly Smith wasconfident that his side will triumph on Sunday, although he will be without the services of midfielder Cuan Benny, who is out injured.
Another cup clash of gigantic proportion is on the cards at 2pm when 2017 Easter tournament champions Star of India and Premier league title-holders Swaraj cross swords.
In the previous two cup fixtures between these two sides (2015 Easter Tournament semifinals and 2016 E L Central fourth Anniversary Cup final) they could not be separated after the duration period, with Star of India prevailing on both occasions via a penalty shootout. Swaraj coach Vernon Nono would want nothing less than to make amends for those two defeats.
The 2017 East London Central fifth Anniversary Cup champions, Pride of India, face a testing encounter against Parkside United at 12.30pm, and Brothers of Peace and Atlantic Spurs lock horns at 11am.
On Saturday, Conquerors have it all to do when they square off against Buffalo City Sports Academy at 3.30pm. Millan and Leeds United clash at 2pm in an all First Division promotional cup tie, and Saints and Napoli will set aside their premier league relegation dogfight when they lock horns at 12.30pm. Leeds Masters and K-Way battle it out at 11am in the opening Noel Mein cup tie of the weekend.
The pride of East London Central LFA, Riverside will be embarking on a road trip to Port Elizabeth tomorrow morning to participate in the annual Engen sponsored U18 provincial club championship hosted by Northern Areas-based Glenville Celtics.
They will be the Association’s club representative after annexing the E L Central Inter-Club U18 playoffs over Easter when they beat Pride of India 1-0 in the final.
The blue train have been drawn in a tough group comprising the defending champions Chippa United, Thornhill United and Young Ideas.
The 16-club event is split into four groups of four teams, with the top two sides advancing to the quarterfinal knockout stage. The other groups comprise Glenville Celtics, Mabayibone, Fast Eleven and St Georges (Group 1), Park United, Friendly City, City Strikers and PE Sundowns (Group 2) and PE Saints, Zwide Pirates, City Pirates and Shining Stars in Group 3.
Riverside will be fielding a squad of exceptionally talented players in Ronaldo Fraser, club captain Rynaldo Benny, Asive Ngxeba, Yamkela Dick, Pantsi Anathi and Alesandro Langley, to name a few.
The squad will be managed by Kelly Smith (coach) and Donovan Fraser (manager), with ex-Kaizer Chiefs and Bush Bucks star Dennis Vukuba and E L Central technical director Charles Pretorius forming part of the Riverside technical management team.
The last North End club side to win this event was in 2010, when Buffalo City Soccer School under the mentorship of Pretorius and Glen Minnie walked away with the prestigious trophy.
Riverside open at 1pm tomorrow at the Gelvandale grounds against Chippa United before tackling Thornhill United at 3pm.
Their final fixture is on Saturday at 10am against Young Ideas. The quarterfinals take place on Saturday, with the semifinals and final taking place on Sunday.