With the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup behind us after Spain were crowned Champions, the focus now shifts to the domestic women’s football competition.
About a third of fixtures remain in the current season of the Hollywoodbets Super League, with reigning and three-time champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies leading the pack on 47 points, just two ahead of second-placed University of the Western Cape.
In third place lie newcomers TS Galaxy Queens who have become a force to be reckoned with after acquiring an array of stars, while Royal AM (formerly Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies) occupy the fourth spot, with JVW in fifth place.
Newly-promoted University of Pretoria are making waves with their impressive display and find themselves in position six ahead of other experienced campaigners. Another institution of learning, the University of Johannesburg, which has been blowing hot and cold, is seventh while Richmond United completes the top eight of the 16-team league.
From positions 9-16 are Durban Ladies, TUT, First Touch, Copperbelt Ladies, City Lads Ladies, Coal City Wizards, Thunderbirds Ladies and Ma-Indies.
The struggle is real for the bottom four, who are on 14, 13, nine and six points respectively and they have a huge amount of work ahead of them to retain their statuses in the league.
With the season drawing to a close, and depending on your position on the table, these are crucial times – as the excitement of fighting for the league title becomes clearer while the pain and anxiety of failing or surviving relegation also gets real.
CentreCircle.online spoke to the coaches in the Hollywoodbets Super League and posed three questions to all of them:
- What has the team been up to since the World Cup break?
- How ready is your side for the remainder of the season – and what will it take to finish where you are aiming for?
- What is your take of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in general – any lessons taken?
And this is what they had to say:
MAUD KHUMALO – TUKS LADIES:
- The team has been active since the World Cup break, playing tournaments and some friendlies
- Our team is ready, they were missing the action as we all know that we were participating in the FNB Varsity Football tournament, picking up from we left off in the league won’t be easy but Varsity Football has played a role boosting us to get back to the thick of thing in the league. It will take lot of team work, commitment and resilience to finish where we aimed for
- During World Cup I have learned so many things – in terms of tactical discipline and technique that was displayed by the players. I have also learnt that all the teams that qualified were there to compete, there was no so-called small or obvious teams. The biggest takeaway is that it is very clear that Women’s Football is growing all over the world.
NKOSINATHI FOUNTAIN – CITY LADS LADIES:
- We have been busy training trying to install a new play while also correcting some few things
- We are ready but we will need to get maybe two games to be where we want to be in terms of match fitness because we last played competitive game five weeks ago vs TUT. Since we are lying 13th on the log we have been working very hard to correct how we defend and attack and teaching the girls the importance of playing as a unit .We will compete for the three points at stake – each three points will help us to move to closer to the top eight
- The lessons we took from the World Cup is that you must work hard for your win and, also, you win games on the field not on the table. My players have also learnt some tactical lessons in terms of analysing the games. South Africans are talented they can stand their own against the top teams in the world, all we need is the belief and hard work
NTHABELENG MODIKO – UJ LADIES:
- Since the World Cup break, we have used the time to work or focus on the team, promoting some younger / junior players in our various teams and also working on a number of competitions i.e. Engen Challenge, FNB Varsity Football, and Basadi Challenge
- Our side is ready for the remainder of the season, a few injured players are now closer to re-joining the squad and that will also help with variations and playing tactics. We just need to focus on consistency and remain on top form, we need to collect as many points to push our way back into the top three
- The World Cup was an eye opener in terms of understanding the rapid growth and speed at which the game is played. Very wonderful event, greatly entertaining and mostly with great lessons in each game. One big lesson – never rest on your laurels because everyone catches up, for example powerhouses like Brazil, Germany, Canada etc all went home early.
SIZWE SIBIYA – TS GALAXY QUEENS:
- Obviously we took a bit of a break, there’s nothing as refreshing as being away from work to be with loved ones. Fresh start, reset, re-evaluate, re-focus. Small reminders why you started in the first place. I remember when I was still a player, I would always want to go home, just to look at my parents, siblings, take them out for lunch, I would tell them everything about work, that alone, reminded me why I started in the first place. No matter the difficulties I faced daily, I went back rejuvenated.
- Often a little experience upsets a lot of theory. With rehearsals, yes I believe we are ready, but only when we are supposed to perform will one really see if indeed we are/were ready or not. We’ve seen how preparations can mislead us with other teams. You find that you would win all your friendly matches, but come the real deal, you struggle. But I believe we are ready. It’s always a great feeling to do what everyone thinks you cannot do. So nje, we remain humble. Get what we can, see this season through, then have proper ideal plans for next season.
- What I believe should be the biggest lesson we should take is, we have often heard words such as “anything is possible” “impossible is nothing”… After the round of 16, the reality was I think only Japan was remaining as the only nation that has won it. Meaning probabilities of us seeing a first time winner was 9/10…. That said “it’s possible”… If you set your mind to it, and truly believe… You shall bring life to it.
CHRISTINAH KUTUMELA- TUT LADIES
- We have been working so hard as we did not do so well in the first round, but we believe that the second round will totally be different as we hoping to get results and reach our goal.
- The team is dedicated and motivated to carry on and kick start with the league, it can only take Teamwork, discipline and leadership for us to get to where we supposed to.
- The World Cup was amazing to watch and I personally agree with our Head coach Desire Ellis (Banyana Banyana), the standard is too high and the earlier we get proper development structures and professionalise Women’s Football and get more sponsors, the greater for us as we will improve and be able to be in a better position to compete.
- MITCH STEVENS – JVW
- During the World Cup break the squad took a short break and then returned to training. We have been focusing on integrating three new players into our squad. In addition to that it has been a case of physical maintenance plus reinforcing our tactical disciplines.
- We are confident in our squad’s ability to compete against any team in the league, plus create opportunity on goals. Unfortunately scoring goals has been a major issue for us compared to last season, so a lot of our focus in this period has been in that area.
- I thoroughly enjoyed the World cup. It was very satisfying and encouraging seeing African sides qualify for the last 16 round. My congratulations to all those players and coaches. I was very impressed in the technical and tactical improvement in the teams. It shows that there has been a focus and a lot of work done over the last four years to reach such levels. I was entertained by the tactical diversity and approach to the game. I particularly found it pleasing to see teams like Portugal, Japan and Spain, who were not the strongest or tallest physically, use technical ability combined with an entrenched tactical strategy to overcome the more direct and physically imposing teams. For me it’s less predictable and therefore more entertaining. I think there are many lessons to be learnt from this World Cup and its results. I believe we as South Africans need to look closely at our way forward. Rather take the lessons learnt and implement them earlier rather than later. We need to cut our pattern to our cloth and not try to be something we are not.
KARABO SELABE – COPPERBELT LADIES:
- The team didn’t stop training because we were working on other different aspects of the game preparing upcoming games by training and playing lot of friendly games because we know that games that we are left with won’t be easy.
- The readiness is another level – the mood in the camp is very high for the games we are left with. The hard work we put in during the break will help us to up get to our desired top eight position
- That’s was a good world cup were good players competed against each other. I am happy to saw my beloved country performed well. But one other thing is that we must have proper development for girls so that it can be easy to compete at that stage
THINASONKE MBULI – UWC:
- Our last league game was on the 10th of June, but we were lucky we got an invite from the University of the Free State to play in a tournament called the Women’s Legacy Tournament, which included us, Tuks Ladies, UFS and a team from Lesotho called Kick for Life. The tournament wa on the second week of July and this meant we did not stop training after our league game so we could be ready for this competition, but only changed the intensity and the number of training days. After the tournament we gave the players two weeks off so that they can go home and recharge, see their families and come back to prepare for the Varsity Football Cup and also for the restart of the Hollywoodbets Super League.
- I think we are ready. Like I said in the first question, we used the Varsity Football Cup as part of our preparations for the return of the league because we also had players that are part of the Hollywoodbets Super League squad – so in terms of players with a few minutes we are ready. It will take a lot for us to reach the goal we have set ourselves – but we have to be consistent. The second round is always difficult, and that mean working a bit harder at training or during games to grind the results, so it won’t be easy. We (UWC) are in a very difficult situation where we cannot afford to drop points, so each and every game is a must win for us. I’ve been saying to the players that unfortunately we can’t even have a day off or think this or that game will be easy or be complacent – and that comes with a lot of pressure. So, we have to be mentally strong for each and every game because when you play there’s a lot that happens around you – sometimes you play away, sometimes you face a lot of challenges. When you have the pressure of winning a game plus the other external factors, that might contribute to you not performing well on the day, it takes a lot mentally – so I think consistency, being mentally strong and the way we prepare for a second round will be key. The fact is, we have to work a little bit harder because the next 13 games are not going to be easy.
By Matlhomola Morake
