Football can be a cruel game sometimes and TUT Captain Khuliso Rashamuse can attest to that.
His troops did everything they could to reach the Varsity Football final, but they were handed a knockout blow by NMMU in front of their home fans in the semifinals.
TUT won the round robin log with 17 points and boasted an unbeaten record of seven matches going into the semifinals. But their only defeat a 1-0 loss to NMMU in the last four dashed their hopes of a historic home final.
To say that their hearts were heart broken by NMMU would be an understatement. All their hard work and a fine run at the competition came to a stuttering end.
They experienced how cruel football can get as they tasted their first defeat at the competition, which resulted in their elimination. The skipper and his players held hands and prayed as a form of unity.
The talented 25-year-old defender, who is studying second year in Business management, said the mood was at an all-time low in the dressing room.
He said: “We were the power house of the tournament when it started. We went from being the underdogs to the team to beat. But we have seen how cruel football can get with such a painful defeat and it really hurts.
“We gave it our all and got to market ourselves to the scouts, but we lacked luck when we needed it the most. But I suppose when you need it the most you tend to lose it,” he added.
What have they learned in the past eight weeks? Rashamuse said he hoped that scouts that were attending their matches would sign a few of their players
“We learned how to play as a team and we were united. Unity is the power and when we are united anything is possible. Maybe some of us got scouted and it’s a matter of time before we’re singed. But for now it’s back to the books and studying,” he said.
He added that the scoreline on the night was deceiving, but he wished NMMU well in the final and tipped them to go all the way.
“The morale is down we came here as favourites but the score line is deceiving. But that’s football what can we do if you don’t convert your chances you lose games. We wrote our own history and over and above we had a good tournament. But people will always judge us based on this result and that’s how football works. Only winners are remembered in major tournaments nobody remembers teams that did well” said the Venda born footballer.
By Charles Baloyi – Sports writer Daily Sun and Sunday Sun
