Tenacious Mamelodi Sundowns and JVW Ladies claim pre-season titles
Mamelodi Sundowns wins the inaugural of GWDL Top 8 Title
Mamelodi Sundowns, yet again, showcased their dominance of South African football, from the professional level to the development level, by capturing the Gauteng Women’s Development League’s (GWDL) inaugural Top 8 title on the weekend.
Whether it’s in men’s or women’s football, the Pretoria-based club has developed a remarkable habit of securing silverware.
However, the Sundowns ladies’ road to the Top 8 honours was not an easy one. Along the way they were pushed hard by Remember Elite Sports Academy (RESA) and Origin FC. But, demonstrating champions’ pedigree, they fought their way to the gold medal by defeating JVW 4-2 in the final.
In the scorching heat, at Panorama FC, in Roodepoort, Mamelodi Sundowns threatened early in the title-decider. Skimming through small gaps in the JVW defence and playing to their usual beat, Sundowns dictated play with their swift ball movement.
They were rewarded for their industry when Pretty Modika opened the scoring. However, in the act of finding the back of the net she injured herself, forcing coach Rhoda Mulaudzi into a substitution.
Chuene Thobakgale replaced the goalscorer and the Brazilians didn’t blink, with Thobakgale causing JVW trouble throughout and eventually registering a goal of her own in the second half of the game.
It wasn’t plain sailing for Mamelodi, however, with Mntambo Gugulethu troubling their defence and scoring twice. But those strikes proved to be consolation goals.
Thandi Siziba scored Sundowns’ third after a blunder by the JVW backline, which failed to clear the ball out of the danger zone. Then, Amara Moothosamy, who enjoyed an outstanding game and played with flair in the midfield, struck a stunner from outside the box to close out the contest for Banyana Ba Style.
Coach Mulaudzi, speaking after the final, said she was proud of her technical team and the management of Mamelodi Sundowns for believing in the side’s young players and for allowing them to showcase their talent.
“Playing against JVW, it’s a tough battle. It’s becoming more like a derby of some sort, if that makes sense,” she said.
“But our girls are special. They are capable of scoring and, when we were down by 2-1 in the last five minutes of the quarterfinal, they came back and scored three goals in those last five minutes to seal a 4-2 victory for us over Origin FC.
“However, we still have work to do. There are grey areas that we need to work on, such as our defence. In this tournament, we conceded more than we did last year in the entire season,” Mulaudzi said.
JVW wins the prestigious Sasol League pre-season tournament
In another enthralling battle, after watching their GWDL side go down to Mamelodi Sundowns, the JVW Sasol team consoled itself in the best possible manner.
In a thrilling climax to the Sasol League pre-season tournament, JVW defeated Mito Stars 3-2, with a goal from Tatiana Correia and a brace from Bonolo Mokoma carrying them to victory.
Commenting after the game, an elated JVW coach Ronald Molepo said it was a tough challenge. “When we conceded the first goal, we dropped a little bit and did not play our usual game. They took the lead again. We continued our search for a goal and the girls eventually scored and ensured we took the trophy home.”
Molepo described the pre-season tournament as good preparation for the forthcoming season, and said the tournaments are also good exposure for women’s football.
“Now we will go back and do our analysis and evaluate how we played during this tournament,” he concluded.
Gauteng Development League Top 8 Results
Semi-finals
Mamelodi Sundowns 3(3)-3(0) RESA
JVW 4-0 Highlands Park
Final
Mamelodi Sundowns 4-2 JVW
Sasol League Pre-games Results
Semi-Finals
Mito Stars (Walkover)– Blue Raycon
JVW 0(3)-0 (0) (Diepkloof Ladies FC
Final
JVW 3-2 Mito Stars
