OUT TO MAKE HER MARK
Top striker has sights on greater things
U20 national team striker Zimasa Dekeda, who plays for Thunderbirds in the provincial Sasol League, says after having qualified for the Sasol League national championships they’re aiming to improve from the position they finished in last season.
Dekeda scored the two goals that helped the Butterworthbased outfit win the 2018 elite women’s league title against archrivals from Port Elizabeth City Lads last Saturday.
The Msobomvu High School Grade 10 pupil from Butterworth said she now looked forward to making her mark at this year’s national tournament being held in Kimberley from December 3 to 7 where all the provincial champions are set to fight for the first prize of R200,000.
She last represented the country last December when South Africa took on Ghana in a friendly encounter, and now she also hopes that her performance in the Sasol league this season will motivate national women’s U20 (Basetsana) coach Maud Khumalo to recall her to the national side.
“I think my performance in this season has been good and it might motivate the national team coach Khumalo to give me a callup,” said Dekeda.
She said preparing for the final game of the season was not as intense as she expected it to be. “Playing City Lads always feels like a derby, because even last season we played in the final against them and it was not easy even, though we beat them at the end.
“We really focused on the basics when preparing for that game, which helped us a lot and I’m just relieved that injuries I picked were minor.
“And I was able to play all the games this season and I think it’s only three games where I didn’t score this season.”
Dekeda said defending their league title was not easy, because all the teams were fighting to strip them of the championship.
“We’re happy we could defend the title, and this is our chance to rectify the mistakes that we made at the national champs last season.”
After the first game at the championships, where Thunderbirds drew 2-all against Coal City Wizards, who were the hosts, Dekeda received the Diski Queen of the Match (playerof-the-match) award following her stunning performance.
Thunderbirds were relegated in the semifinals by Bloemfontein Celtic when they lost 4-0 to Celtic at Kabokweni Stadium in Nelspruit.
“I’m aiming for another accolade this season, and getting a second run at the tournament gives me a chance to prove myself.
“This time around we want to improve from the position we finished in last season. We want to reach final this season and hopefully win the tournament.
“But my individual goal when we go there is to have a positive impact on the team and keep scoring goals like I’ve been able to throughout the season.
“Because there are opportunities there. You’d find that Banyana Banyana scouts are there and they want to be impressed and playing for the national senior team is everyone’s ambition in this league.”
This time around we want to improve from the position we finished in last season