Match Day 3 of the Sasol League National Championship proved to be another exciting day with the teams continuing to display competitive football on the field of play – this provides proof of the difference that the Sasol League is making with regards to the development and growth of women’s football in the country, especially at a community level.
The skills displayed by the players – such as being technical and tactical, speed and agility – are clear evidence of the hard work that the players put into their training regime to ensure they are ready to compete in the Championship. The coaches are also doing great work to ensure the players live up to the spirit of #Limitless when fighting to be recognised as individual players while also working hard to get their teams to move to the next level in the competition.
Accordingly, National Under-20 star Zethembiso Vilakazi believes the time has come for Lindelani Ladies FC to stand out. For years, the 20-year-old club has been playing second fiddle to leading KwaZulu Natal (KZN) sides, Durban Ladies and Sunflower Women’s Football Club. These teams have represented the province in all the 11 editions of the Sasol League National Championship with Sunflower only playing in two editions.
Lindelani finished top of Group C with six points to qualify for the semi-final round of the weeklong competition. The host team beat Free State’s Ixias FC 2-1 to secure a place on top of the table. The Nkosinathi Vilakazi led side had to put up a fight to get the better of Ixias FC – the 19-year-old Zethembiso scored on either half of the match. Relebohile Ntongoa put her name on the scoresheet for the other side.
“I’m really happy that we’re here. It’s been a long time coming for us to get here. We have fought to get here in KZN. No one was taking my team seriously and I think from today they will. Only one team was known in the province, and we wanted to shine and stand out like others so that our talent may be seen. We have been second on the KZN log for five years until we won last year. It wasn’t easy, I am not going to lie. It was hard,” says Vilakazi.
“Our wish is to get into the national league like (Mamelodi) Sundowns and TUT so that we can be seen. I think we have done everything to get to the next level. We only have one more battle to take on for us to get to the next level. It’s time that we come together and prepare for what we want,” says the second-year University of KwaZulu Natal student.
The champions and runners-up of the Sasol League National Championship will also gain promotion to the Hollywoodbets Super League. The Sasol League National Championship winning team walking away with a cool R200 000.00 for their efforts while runners up will take home R100 000.00 and R60 000.00 for the team finishing third.
In the first match of the day, Western Cape’s Vasco da Gama FC defeated City Lads FC 3-1 to finish on top of Group A. Miche Minnies got her first brace of the tournament while Chantay Norris scored the other. Onelisa Nanasele got the solitary goal for the Eastern Cape team. Vasco ended the group stage of the competition with a healthy 11 goals after having thrashed Northern Capes Royal Wizards FC 8-1 in their opening match. Lads finished as the best second-placed team and has also qualified for the semi-finals.
Gauteng’s Croesus Ladies FC bossed TS Galaxy Ladies FC to record their second win of the tournament to finish atop Group B. They beat the Mpumalanga side 2-0 courtesy of goals from Lerato Makhanya and Mpho Rammala.
Semi-final fixtures: Friday 11 February
- Lindelani Ladies vs City Lads (11am)
- Croesus Ladies vs Vasco da Gama (3pm)
To live stream the matches tune into:
- Sasol League Facebook Page
- SAFA.Net Facebook Page
- Sasol League Twitter Page
- Sasol YouTube Channel
