It
is 9am on Sunday, 4th March at the Century City soccer field and Diskioff
arrives just in time to play their first group match of the day-long
tournament. Everyone looks ready and confident ahead of the first game against
unknowns NGK Ceramic. Kickoff time - 10:15am – and the game flows on pretty
evenly with Diskioff having just a slight edge in ball possession. In finding
difficulty to break the opponents’ defence with sleek, short passing movements,
Diskioff switches to the long ball system. The change seems to work smartly as
Ceramic struggle to contain Diskioff as the floodgates open, not once, not
twice but three times – the boys in a spanking new blue and white adidas kit
end up winning the game 3-0.
The
second group game started satisfactorily with Diskioff threatening the BBI
Enzymes defence with a host of shots and free kicks but just could not
capitalise on their chances. Enzymes must be credited for keeping the Diskioff
boys at bay while sneaking in two quick goals to snatch three points with a 2-1
scoreline.
Back
to the drawing board now, located under our Sportsman’s Warehouse-sponsored
gazebo, as Diskioff face a must-win scenario against TFG to stay in the
competition. The third game surprisingly sees TFG quickly get on the score
sheet inside the opening five minutes with a well taken free kick. Just as the
boys were attacking feverishly to get back into the game, TFG grab a second
goal to kill off the match and pile up the misery with Diskioff now seemingly
set to head home early and exit the tournament in the group stages – 2-0 is the
final score against us.
Now
on to the final group phase fixture and the opponents are the group high-flyers
Sizwe Ntsaluba, who are already certain of a place in the quarterfinals. This
was a game many thought would be a walk in the park for the log leaders only
for Diskioff to prove otherwise and show that there was still some fighting
spirit within the camp. A stunning display of quick one twos, a touch of
tsamayas from the attacking players Nito, Tebza and Chris and a few shibosos
here and there from Siya and Sifiso, Diskioff stun the crowd and register an
impressive 4-1 victory. Just when all hope was lost, a place in the
quarterfinals as group runners-up is secured by Diskioff, owing to a better
goal difference, having amassed 6 points which is the same number of points as
NGK Ceramic and BBI Enzymes.
The
quarterfinal tie pitted Diskioff against an extremely competitive Fossil team,
which hammered everyone before them in their group. True to form, Fossil score the
opening goal early on but thanks to persistent attacks from Diskioff the boys
manage to sneak in an equaliser near the end from a throw-in and the match ends
1-1 to be settled via a penalty shootout. Diskioff’s star goalkeeper produced
two brilliant saves to deny Fossil in the shootout and rightly scored the
winning penalty to take Diskioff to yet another semifinal of this tournament.
As
for the semifinals, that's when Diskioff’s fairy tale would as we lost to
Clicks by 1-0. Diskioff were out, but everyone was proud of the achievement.
This was the second successive year Diskioff reached the semis of this
competition – WE WILL BE BACK FOR THE NUMBER 1 spot in 2013.
Diskioff
would like to extend gratitude new kit sponsors adidas South Africa. PS: adidas
– next time please include the adizero F50 and Predator boots too. We look
forward to our NEXT Challenge on the field and this time promise our supporters
to bring the gold medal home!
Group stages
Diskioff
3-0 NGK Ceramics
Diskioff
1-2 BBI Enzymes
Diskoff
0-2 TFG
Diskioff
4-1 Sizwe Ntsaluba
Final Group standings
1.
Sizwe Ntsaluba – 9 points Q
2.
Diskioff – 6 points (better goal difference) Q
3.
NGK Ceramics – 6 points Q
4.
BBI Enzymes – 6 points
5.
TFG – 3 points
Quarterfinals
Diskioff
1-1 Fossil
(Diskioff
win 3-2 on penalties)
Semifinals
Diskioff
0-1 Clicks
Diskioff
goalscorers
Tebza
– 3, Chris – 2, Nito – 1, Siya – 1, Kgosi – 1, Sifiso – 1
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