Thembi: We were superb on the day
BULAWAYO: It’s been a wonderful Cosafa Cup tournament for Banyana Banyana’s attacking midfielder Thembi Kgatlana. Her team won the Championship title and she captured the Player of the Tournament accolade in her first participation in this Southern Regional Tournament.
Banyana beat Zimbabwe 2-1 at the Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday to bring the title back home to South Africa and Kgatlana said the team had worked their socks off to beat the hosts in front of a passionate home crowd.
“This is something that I aimed for and I’m just pleased that I was able to get what I had targeted from the beginning of this championship,” Kgatlana said. “This goes to show that nothing beats hard work, and to win it (the Player of the Tournament accolade) after having helped the national side win this year’s Cosafa Women’s Championship final, makes it all the more sweeter.
“Looking at our final game against Zimbabwe, we dominated them for best good part of that match. It is only those lapses of concentration at the back which got to us, and they were able secure a comeback goal to make it 1-1. But other than that, we were just superb on the day.
“What’s most important is we are this year’s Cosafa champions and that’s what makes me really happy. We achieved the goal we had set for ourselves to reach from the onset.
Kgatlana continued: “This achievement also adds a bit of weight to my profile as a player. I won both the Championship title and this individual accolade on my debut. That’s massive in my eyes. My focus will now have to shift towards finishing my BA in Tourism (with the University of the Western Cape). Next year counts as my final.”
Meanwhile Banyana’s central midfielder Refiloe Jane, who was given the captain’s armband for the duration if the tournament following the unavailability of Banyana skipper Janine van Wyk, said that it felt good being the first to lift the trophy at the end of the match.
However, she emphasised that none of this would have been possible if she and her teammates hadn’t pulled together as a unit right up until the final day of this year’s championship.
“It’s a great feeling to have won this championship in my first participation in this tournament as captain,” Jane said. “However, all credit must go to my teammates and the technical staff as well because everybody just worked really hard to achieve this goal. I can’t take all the credit, really. We pulled together as a unit. The new players also raised their hands and rose to the occasion when it was expected of them, and that makes me really happy. We truly earned it.”
This achievement also adds a bit of weight to my profile as a player,” says Kgatlana