Huis Marais earned bragging rights over their rivals, Huis Visser, after a 2-0 victory during the finals of the Res League Pre-Season tournament on 20 March at Lentelus. Academia came third in the competition.
Kaleb MacZali, coach of Huis Marais, praised the pre-season tournament and its benefits for his team. “The main season is coming up and this tournament was a great warm-up especially because there was a lot of first years coming into the team so it was hard to find that stability in the squad and the tournament helped us get on good form.”
Huis Marais won the Res League Pre-season Tournament after a 2-0 victory over their rivals, Huis Visser. PHOTO: Teboho Mokonyana.
Huis Marais captain and central defender, Kyle McKinnon, acknowledged that his opponents were more technically gifted. The game plan was centered on using the team’s physique and fitness to counter this.
“They [Huis Visser] might have played better throughout the game but I told everyone to work on physique and fitness the most. This showed in the last ten minutes of the game. We could hold our defense and [we] had a solid goalkeeper.”
Huis Visser coach, Nash Jokomo, explained that his team was unlucky to lose to Huis Marais after they cruised past Alluminati, Wilgenhof, and Helderberg to reach the final and prepared thoroughly for the match against Huis Marais.
Jokomo clarified that his team still has high hopes and expectations for the season ahead. “We won the league last season so we are aiming to do that again. This time we want to go unbeaten and win again,” he said.
Academia came third after winning 1-0 against Helderberg during the third-place playoff. Tristan Geach, the team’s captain and central midfielder, explained that they surpassed their own expectations.
“We haven’t had much preparation before this tournament and I think we did a lot better than we thought we would since most of the boys are unfit so I think we did really well,” said Geach.
Academia came in third after a 1-0 victory over Helderberg. PHOTO: Teboho Mokonyana
Due to the drought, hostel football was going to be cancelled this year. Hostel league coordinator, Ellroy Smith explained that the artificial turf at Lentelus came in handy as it requires very little water for maintenance allowing the league to take place as planned.
Smith also expressed his satisfaction over the quality of football during the tournament. “There is a huge improvement in terms of quality. For example, Huis Marais won tonight because they had better team cohesion and hunger.
“So, sometimes the better team motivates the others to do better. I look forward to the league if this is what we get in pre-season. It makes me excited to see what’s coming up.”