Having scored two goals and awarded three accolades in three matches in this year’s Varsity Football tournament, Thulani Mkosi is without a doubt the man of the moment in the UWC team.
His explosive form has contributed in turning UWC into one of the most formidable sides in the competition, having cemented their position in the summit of the log standings with ten points from four games and becoming the only side that has not tasted defeat in 2015.
Mkosi scored in each of the last two home victories, a 2-1 win over VUT on Monday and the 3-1 triumph over WSU a week earlier. His goal against VUT earned him the Samsung Super Striker Award and he was chosen as Man of the Match against WSU and when UWC beat champions, UP-Tuks, a fortnight ago.
“I’m enjoying playing football at the moment and I’m working very hard.,” said Mkosi, who played for Grassy Park United in the ABC Motsepe League last season.
“Last year was my first season in the Varsity Football and this year I have experience and I knew what to expect in the tournament. That helped me a lot in terms of my individual performance and what to do in terms of how far I can go. In every match I always give my best and test myself on how far I can go,” he added.
A big fan of Eden Hazard, the reigning English Premier League Player of the Season, Mkosi explained that although he was happy with his performance in the first game away at Wits, he improved in the second game to earn the Man of the Match accolade.
“After that I didn’t want to drop the standard I set myself in the first two games,” he said.
With the tournament entering its crucial stage and UWC facing tough assignments when they travel to fourth-placed NWU-Pukke on Monday before welcoming home third-placed TUT a week later, Mkosi’s skills will be more needed.
“Yes, we have very tough fixtures ahead. However, the previous games were not easy either but we managed to see them through,” he said.
Having collected nine of their 10 points at home, Mkosi credited UWC’s good run in the tournament to the hard work in training and the backing of home supporters.
“Now the boys must rise to the occasion and find the courage to fight away from home because that will be a challenge. But I think we are up to the challenge and believe we can perform well away from home,” he said.
Mkosi, a second-year student in education, said his team is trying not to be complacent of its achievements to date but to remain levelhead and keep working hard to maintain the top position on the log.
“They say it’s easy to get to the top but staying there is the difficult part,” he warned.
At the beginning of the tournament UWC had set themselves a target to obtain 12 points in the seven games of the round robin mini league which is relatively enough to secure a semifinal spot.
“The target was a good thing for the team because it gave us something to work towards. But honestly speaking we didn’t expect to have 10 points in four games. The target is very much realistic now, seeing that we are two points away from it.
“But it doesn’t stop there. We have a lot of work to realise our potential because with the squad we have we can go all the way to win the tournament. That is our aim but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and want to take it each game at a time,” said Mkosi.
By Myolisi Gophe
