LA Masia and Gunners through to the final after action packed wins

Nie Cele

A packed to the rafters Nike Football Training Centre in Klipspruit, Soweto , witnessed a high octane double header semifinals of the last four teams that played in an unrelenting scorching heat.

These matches were played under the Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge tournament tutelage that began early this month.

The first semifinal saw the Boys locking horns with the Westbury outfit, LA MasiaFC  in a thrilling one sided  encounter dominated by LA Masia. At first the match was a far outcry for the fans as both teams’ fluffed dozens of scoring chances.

After 17 minutes the fast paced  LAMasia played with with purpose and capitalized on their   opponents sluggish build up.

Their persistence on goal attempts paid dividends when a loose cross was whipped into the box and their talisman Brendan Morris made no mistake and headed home the ball to the net to make it 1-0.

After interval LA Masia continued to dominate and sprayed defence splitting passes that had their opponents in six and sevens but were let down by their lackluster finishing power.

Their never die attitude paid off when they interchanged passes just outside the box and curled a telling pass that confused their opponent’s defense and resulted in an own goal by Thabo Makoa to make the score 2-0.

This goal sent a wake up call message to their opponents who brought in skillful MotsiriTshabalala who scored a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game to reduce the deficit to 2-1 however time was against them to equalize.

In another match Senaone Gunners thumped the star studded Zola outfit Dzakaroski  2-0 in a high flying fast paced game that saw Gunners dictate terms from the first whistle till the end of the game.

The difference between the two formidable sides was that Gunners played transitional pinpoint football whereas their opponents played unfashionable guessing passes that led them down throughout the 90 minutes.

Just in the early stages of the game, Gunners played with purpose and made their intentions clear by spraying accurate passes that unlocked Dzakaroski’s stubborn defense.

MatsokhaWalazawas the main man who orchestrated most attacks on the right flank. It came as no surprise when a good pass was thrown into the box and PhungwayoRedondo punished the Zola outfit and beat the keeper to make it 1-0.

Dzakaroski tried to regroup and  unleash attacks on all cylinders but the solid as a rock Gunners defense thwarted all their moves.

Again Gunners used all their arsenal to attack and played short passes and KeletsoValaez scored a brilliant goal to make it 2-0.

After interval Dzakaroski tried in vain to play counter football but Gunners defense defended fearlessly like men possesed.

Just towards the end of the game Dzakaroski tried to pile up the pressure with main man BoboSithole dribbling his opponents to go forward, but in vain.

Gunners resorted in playing route one ding dong football that frustrated their opponents. This was mainly done to buy time en-route to the final.