Soccer showdown to kick off
Title-holders Sibanye hoping to survive tough challenge in Easter tourney
DEFENDING champions Sibanye Football Club will be raring to go as they get the defence of their SPAR Northern Areas Football Association Easter Tournament title under way at Blackpool tomorrow evening.
Having beaten Park United in last year’s final, they will look to navigate their way through a tough group which includes Blackpool, Helenvale United and Madibaz Football Club – who are replacing Saints in this year’s tournament.
“The team is gelling quite well at the moment, and I think they have what it takes to go out there and defend the title,” Sibanye assistant coach Ben Lewis said yesterday.
Lewis said the team, occupying fifth position in the Nafa first division reserve league, were in good shape and were ready to go out and make their good form count.
“Our season started well. We have won two games and drawn two games, so I would say it has been a good start, [but] there are definitely areas of our game where we can improve,” Lewis said.
“I think one area we can improve on is our goal-scoring, despite having scored 12 goals so far this season.
“I think we are creating enough opportunities in front of goal to trouble other teams in the tournament.”
Lewis said a trip to the finals again this year would be high on their list of priorities, but admitted there was some tough opposition in each group who also stood a fair chance of going all the way.
The four-day tournament kicks off tomorrow with an opening ceremony to be staged at the Gelvan Stadium from 6.30pm. It will feature a host of games from both junior and senior sections.
All matches will be played at a number of venues including the Gelvan Sports Grounds fields one and two and an under-nine field at the same grounds, as well as the Saints FC and Errol Heynes fields.
Round robin and knockout phase matches will be played from tomorrow to Sunday, with all finals to be contested on Monday.
Wolves FC team manager Andre van Rooyen will be hoping his team can go one better than they did last year by moving past the group stages.
“We never made it past the group stage last year, so one of the goals we set was to make it out of the group, and we will take it from there.”
Wolves have been grouped with Hotspurs FC, Stardrift FC and Rangers FC, and they get their campaign under way in a tough match against Hotspurs at Gelvan 1 tomorrow afternoon.
He said making it to the semifinal stage would be an achievement in itself, admitting that knockout competitions were very unpredictable.
“The team is doing quite well. As we know, anything can happen in tournaments.
“The group we are in consists of strong teams. I just feel we need to put away the chances in front of goal,” he said.
Glenville will be out to change their fortunes as they begin their quest for tournament glory against Park United at the Errol Heynes field tomorrow afternoon.
Having met the opening-match opponents in the third-place playoffs of the tournament last year, Breda said this year the team were aiming to go one better, but admitted his group, made up of Park United, Celtic and Real Madrid, was also strong and he believed any results would have to be thoroughly earned by his side.