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Botswana: Rollers Clinch Kopong Easter Tourney
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 25 March 2008
Tshepo Molwane
Mascom Premier League giants Township Rollers won the Easter Charity tournament in Kopong edging Lister City 3-2 in an entertaining final played at the Kopong United ground on Sunday. The tournament was sponsored by Phakalane Estate.
Rollers reached the final after beating Kopong United 4-2 on penalty shootouts. Lister City also qualified through penalty shoot-outs after beating Kopong Classic.
Rollers, who were free from their demanding Premier League programme, managed to take all their players to Kopong, except for the Under-23 players who are in camp preparing for the Botswana-Cameroon game.
Mapalastina must thank their stars and goalkeeper Lesego 'Chokri' Moeng who pulled off some few sensational saves to keep his side in the game against the minnows. Rollers took the lead in the opening 20 minutes when youngster Edwin Moalosi fired the ball into the roof of the net, giving City goalkeeper Boenyana 'Banks' Mothofela no chance.
But City responded in the 31st minute after referee Philemon Piet awarded them a penalty. Marks Gaogane stepped forward and easily beat Moeng in the Rollers' goal. The game continued to move from one end to another, with Rollers being stronger. Zulian Phiri, Aubrey Kebonetse and Moalosi gave City a torrid afternoon, with Kgomari Mothuba, Gabriel Bokhutlo and Boniface Makolo manning the rearguard. Rollers restored the lead through Kebonetse when his thunderbolt left the goalkeeper stranded.
Seven minutes after the break, City shocked their opponents when they levelled matters through Alfred Matong. Minutes later, Matong forced a brilliant save from goalkeeper Moeng, who parried the shot away for a corner. In the 59th minute, Kebonetse scored the winner with a spectacular bicycle-kick from inside the box. The effort won Kebonetse a huge round of applause from the supporters who attended the game.
Rollers' assistant coach, States Segopolo, who took charge of the team alongside Thabo 'Mahala' Motang in the absence of head coach, Dickson Ngwenya, said that the tournament gave some of the fringe players a chance to prove their mettle. He further said that since they did not have a league game, the games provided them with the necessary match practice. "It also helped us to improve relations with the lower division sides and hopefully, it will attract more supporters to our club," he said. But Segopolo pointed out that the most important thing is that they have managed to raise funds for charity.
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Kopong chief, Michael Molefe applauded all those who made the tournament a success. He hopes that in the future, other companies will come forward to help improve the lives of disadvantaged people in the village. Molefe called on other Premier League teams to emulate Rollers and play matches in Kopong and other villages in Kweneng East. "The attendance was good but was affected by bad weather on Saturday as it was raining," he said.
The organiser of the tournament, Adam Maseko, said that despite a few hiccups ,everything went according to plan. He said they could have made a kill from the gate-takings if the final was played at 3.30pm as it was scheduled. The final kick-off had to be changed to 1.30pm as Rollers wanted to release their players for the holidays.
"Some people came to the ground at 3.30pm but we were happy at the way things went," he said. The tournament made P9,392,05 which will be donated to 100 orphans in the village. Phakalane Estate manager Lesang Magang graced the occasion.
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| Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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