It’s finals countdown with spots up for grabs
THE Buffalo City Inter-Local Football Associations (LFA) tournament will see the best of the best selected to represent the metro when it wraps up on Saturday at the Orlando Stadium in Mdantsane.
The finals will see five age group matches being played at the NU2 venue and local organising committee and convener of the tournament Nzimeni Fanta said clubs were preparing themselves for a tough time.
“There is a grudge game between Mdalfa and Gompo. They are LFAs that are always in competition with each other because they are close to each other,” Fanta remarked.
“And Mdalfa thinks they are superior to Gompo because Mdantsane is bigger, but Gompo wants to prove that’s not true.
“So we’ll see during the game when 11 players meet 11 players on the field of play.
“The excitement is already in the air because people around Mdantsane and Gompo are already saying they will be watching the games.”
Fanta said the talent they noticed at last week’s instalment of the tournament held at Zwelitsha Stadium was most motivating.
“It means there’s something right we are doing in football. And after what I saw in Zwelitsha, I will now focus more on the U11s rather than the older guys because these young boys have got passion for the sport.
“You can see it in their eyes and when I look at them there’s a huge difference between them and older players,” said Fanta.
“For instance, I’ve seen an U11 player weeping after his team lost a game, unlike their older brothers who sometimes even laugh when they lose a game, making it a joke.
“Losing a match for adults players is not a stressful matter because you see them drinking alcohol and enjoying themselves. But to these young boys it’s in their hearts.”
Fanta had a stern warning to LFA, after he disqualified the Gompo U15 team for fielding an ineligible player during the first leg of the competition.
“I wish their older brothers don’t include them in age cheating scandals because one person can ruin the chance for them because an 11-year-old can’t fail to remember his name.
“But when you ask [older players] what their names are, they stutter – meaning they didn’t know the names they were playing [under].
“We had to rule out the Gompo U15 side, because we had a player that was playing with a certificate that wasn’t his.
“That’s fraud in it’s true form and we are guarding against such, especially since we are playing the finals.
“And we so wish that people who are running the teams would be honest with us and play the right players in the right age groups.”
Fanta said they were going to pick the regional squad from the players that participated in this weekend’s tournament.
“We can’t let this trend affect us in the long run when we already have a squad because that would put a bad name to our region as a whole.
“Even though it might have been done by one person and we can’t afford that.
“People should understand that when it comes to development, if you are there to win only, then you are in the wrong place.
“The aim here is to groom our next generation of soccer players who will be our Bafana Bafana.”
Fixtures (from 10am): U11 final: Gompo v Mdalfa; U13 final: Gompo v Mdalfa; U15 final: Mdalfa v Qonce; U17 final: Mxenge v Mdalfa; U19 final: Mdalfa v Mxenge.