The contest for this year’s Sasol League Western Cape title has reached the boiling point, and any of the four top teams can mathematically be crown champions come October 2. Vasco Da Gama hold all the aces though and are comfortably four points clear of RV United and University of Cape Town, while Spurs Women Football Club are a point further.
Will Vasco hold on to their lead until the end or will any of the chasing pack catch them? The head coaches of the four all competing sides share their thoughts with Capeat6Sport, and below is what they said:
Having won the league when he was at the helm of the University of the Western Cape last year, Vasco mentor Nathan Peskin is likely to repeat the same fate, and has reasons to be confident to get the job done in the next few games. “If there is anything about why it would be Vasco possibly winning the league this year is the consistency we have. We have a decent squad of players, not the best players in the league but they consistently give you the same performance week in and week out. There has been a little lapse of concentration here and there. These girls are not the most talented but they are really disciplined, they are willing to learn, they maintain the structure on the field, they stick and execute the plan and have a good team spirit. And all that helps. And I think we have managed to bring some belief that we can go on and win the league.”
Second-placed RV United (pictured above) were in the thick of things, too, last year. They won their stream and lost to UWC in the final. Coach Vuyolwethu Kayi said their start was not very good and started to get the balance right midway through the season. “What has worked for us this season is that we can score goals, which was the problem last season. We are the only team to have scored more than 100 goals in the league. But we lacked consistency. We lost games that we should have easily won. But we will make sure that we win the remaining games as we have done in the previous matches. We will try and push till the last game and hope that the leaders will drop points.”
UCT has been probably the surprise package of the league this year, and have gotten the better of both Vasco and Spurs in the past two weekends, which they beat 2-1 and 1-0, respectively. And they are gunning for the scalp of RV United but their scheduled clash on Saturday has been postponed due to their participation in the Coke Cup final, which they will take on Spurs. But head coach Kamaal Sait (addressing his charges in the photo above) believes the race is over. “It is mathematically possible for us to win the league but I think Vasco will win it. If we are being realistic, there are not many teams who could beat Vasco this year. They were the most consistent team. We were consistent for a while and then we lost some easy games. But that is football. And we are trying to redeem ourselves with Coke hopefully.
Spurs is among the most respected women football teams in the Western Cape, and has been a team to beat in almost every season. Coach Winston Zeederberg believe this season has been very tough for his side but not throw in the towel. “We lost to a good UCT side at the weekend, but that doesn’t mean all is lost. I still believe we can still finish strong. We still have four games and we just have to try to win all our games. You never know. Some people might drop points. Maybe that is the door for us to go and become the champions this season. I also believe my players deserve whatever comes their way because they have worked very hard for very small squad. But, yes, we are there, we are are knocking. Any mistakes and if they open the door we will definitely go in”.
