Sakhulutsha Youth Academy were crowned the Makana Local Football Association's (LFA) U17 champions on the morning of Saturday 13 September after beating XI Attackers 2-1 in the finals.
Sakhulutsha Youth Academy were crowned the Makana Local Football Association's (LFA) U17 champions on the morning of Saturday 13 September after beating XI Attackers 2-1 in the finals.
With two goals scored in the first half by Andile Bacela, Sakhulutsha were happy to sit back and allow the Attackers players to come at them in the second half of the game, as they put everything into defending their lead.
The Attackers, marred by controversy after the suspension of their senior side, did find the back of the net in the second half.
However they were unable to raise enough power to break Sakhulutsha's defences for a second goal. Sakhulutsha coach, Siya Masinda said he was "very satisfied" with the performance of his team and admitted to having an advantage against his opponents from the beginning.
“We knew we had an advantage against them, because our boys have been together since the age of 12 so they understand each other better”, he said.
Though satisfied with the results of the game, Masinda also used the occasion to criticise the Makana LFA for not being organised and monitoring the games.
He complained of age cheating in the juniors and says it is an issue he has grown tired of complaining about.
“It’s no use to always complain about this because they know there is a lot of age cheating here.
It’s one of the things we struggle too much with”, said Masinda.
South African Football Association (Safa) junior coordinator Akona Heshu says there is a lack of support from the Safa regional leadership, as he is forced to monitor the juniors by himself.
