The first day of the 2021 Sasol League National Championship went off to a great start. The King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban is host to the 12th annual tournament. Day one of the competition produced 19 goals with the bulk coming from Eastern Cape’s City Lads in the last match of the day.
Onelisa Nanasele was the star in the 12-3 thriller between Lads and Northern Cape’s Royal Wizards. Nanalese scored a hattrick in the first half and ended up with a total four goals, earmarking her for the tournament’s top goal scorer award. Her teammate Nwabisa Kolisi was also impactful in the clash, getting on the scoresheet twice before the interval. Nosiphiwo Bottman also recorded a brace with a goal on either side of the game. Pumeza Vimbi, Andisiwe Ndesi, Ayanda Njongweni and Nandipha Booi were also on the scoresheet with a goal each.
Although the scoreline may suggest that the match was a one-sided affair, the Northern Cape side showed some character and fighting spirit especially in the first half with Meriza Jaftha giving the Lads defence a bit of a tough time in the first half. She scored from the penalty spot and shot a volley past keeper Amanda Nteyi in the second half. Nosipho Khomari opened Wizards’ goal account.
Teams involved in the first two matches had to share the spoils after both matches ended with a 1-1 scoreline.
Copperbelt Ladies are on a mission to help Limpopo sides dominate women’s football in the country by becoming the third team in the country’s national league. Karabo Selabe’s side began their campaign with a point after playing to a 1-1 draw against Free State’s Ixias Football Club.
Although Ixias dominated the first half of the match, it was Copperbelt, through Koketso Koko, who opened the scoring in the first half. Koko put in a Diski Queen performance in the open match while Dimakatso Dithleko equalised.
Selabe says they look up to 2019 Sasol League National Champs runners up, Ma-Indies and 2018 Limpopo provincial winners First Touch Academy who now play in the Super League.
“We are happy that we finally played our first game even though we drew. That is not a good result for us, but one point is better than a loss,” he says.
“We are a small team from Sasol, and they (First Touch and Ma-Indies) are national teams, they try to motivate us. We know each other, it’s like we are Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. Our chairmen know one another, and they are close. As a young team, we consult with them to learn how things run in the high level,” he added.
In the other match, TS Galaxy’s Rennika Khoza opened the score in a match that the Mpumalanga side was dominating. A lapse of concentration in the last 10 minutes of the game resulted in an equaliser from Elizabeth Gagani of North West team, Tswelelang De’ Scorpion. 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.
