Ntsoane fulfilling dream as Tornado guns for that special place in higher tier
A TORNADO midfielder’s dream of promoting a team to the National First Division is one tournament away.
For Sydney Ntsoane, born in Limpopo, going to the NFD playoffs has been a long held dream and, when he joined Tornado, he knew that he had to put in an extra effort in order to make that happen.
The soccer marvel, who’s spent one season with the Mdantsane-based outfit, spoke to the Daily Dispatch on the sidelines during a friendly game against BCMM, which they won 5-1 at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium on Wednesday.
Ntsoane said nothing would stand in their way of lifting the trophy at the Turfloop University Fields, where they are set to take on other provincial champions for a spot in the NFD next season. “The preps have been going quite good, because after the last league game we played in April, we got a bit of a rest and came back refreshed. “And now everybody is switched on and ready to compete at the tournament.
“Like the coach [Tshepo Motsoeneng] was saying at the beginning of the season, we have won the league and all that’s left for us now is to get promoted to
NFD,” said Ntsoane.
Having played both in Johannesburg and Limpopo, he said there was nothing special about the way teams in other provinces play, and they impose their own style of play on their opponents.
“Teams from Joburg and other provinces in the north like to play Tiki-Tak (playing carpet football), but we can adapt to any style of playing, being it playing the ball in the air, it doesn’t matter.
“And one thing I’m sure of is that we will force them [Buya Smutu, The Dolphins] to play the way we want to play.
“Plus we have a tough squad with youngsters and experienced players who played at Premier Soccer League and even for the national team.”
He added: “We are not short of anything on the pitch, so they can expect us to go all out when we play in the tournament.” Having grown up in Kamphahlele in Mashita, a village in Limpopo, Ntsoane said his teammates won’t have trouble adapting to the hot weather conditions.
“Turfloop University is not far from where I grew up, so I know we’ll get scotching hot conditions up there, but I’m used to it and I know the guys can take anything that comes their way,” he said.