Shingai Dhlamini
BULAWAYO Galaxy Queens won the Motty Foundation Women’s Soccer Tournament which was held at Sai Mart Grounds in Emganwini at the weekend.
They beat Rea Vaya Royals 1-0.Six teams took part in the tournament which are Bulawayo Galaxy FC, Dube Strikers FC, Rea Vaya Royals, Streetset FC, Newzone Academy and the guest team Young Sables Academy from Hwange.
The exciting event was graced by former Highlanders Royals chairperson and one of Zimbabwe’s advocates for women’s football, Samukeliso Silengane.
The Motty Foundation founder Danny Ndlovu said that the tournament was a success, and the community showed their support by being part of the event as spectarors in big numbers
We had everything going accordingly even the community showed up in numbers to support their teams, they were surprised to see that there are a lot of women’s teams and girls that play as we had over 100 girls on the day. I believe that also gave the green light to those who also want to play soccer,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu also said that the girls got advice from the guest of honour, Samukeliso Silengane who spoke to the girls about how they should take good care of themselves, not get involved in drug and substance abuse, take their education seriously and steps to take when aiming to go far in soccer.
Watson Phiri who is the Bulawayo Galaxy boss said that he was happy with the way the girls performed given that the games were tough and competitive.
“Am so happy and very proud of the girls because they really fought to win this trophy considering that no one gave us a chance, the competition was tough but we came out victorious. “This was a special moment in the history of our team and for the past three years we sacrificed a lot so this was a well-deserved victory, credit goes to the girls and the whole technical team, the coach, the manager and the secretary, they all did a wonderful job,” said Phiri.
In the semi-finals, Rea Vaya beat Young Sables 2-0.Bulawayo Galaxy secured a narrow victory of 1-0 over Dube Strikers.
Rea Vaya dominated Streetset with a 3-0 win.Bulawayo Galaxy edged Newzone Academy 1-0.
The tournament concluded with a thrilling final where Bulawayo Galaxy claimed the title, defeating Rea Vaya 1-0 after missing a glut of chances.
The Player of the Tournament award went to Eveline Makwaiba of Bulawayo Galaxy, top scorer was Dineo Njaya of Rea Vaya and the best goalkeeper Buhlebenkosi Zikhali of Bulawayo Galaxy.
Results Young Sables 0-0 Newzone, Bulawayo Galaxy 1-0 Dube Strikers, Rea Vaya 0-0 New Zone, Streetset 0-0 Bulawayo Galaxy, Rea Vaya 2-0 Young Sables, Streetset 0-0 Dube strikers. Semi-finalsGalaxy 1-0 Newzone, Rea Vaya 3-0 Streetset Final Galaxy 1-0 Rea Vaya
