A shot at glory

This week Rhodes University (RU) is privileged to host the much-anticipated University Sport South Africa (USSA) national club championship, that brings together university sides from across Mzantsi (South Africa) for an exciting week of top-class football. 

Today, all eyes are on Grahamstown as the nation’s powerhouses of tertiary-level soccer clash on Rhodes’ fields. Owning home ground advantage this year, Rhodes men’s and women’s sides are natural favourites, but experts have warned that, with temperatures soaring in Grahamstown, teams who are used to duelling in intense heat, such as Venda and Caper Peninsula University of Technology will make formidable adversaries. Of course defending champions North West Mafikeng (men‘s) and University of Johannesburg (women’s) will be not be keen to relinquish their titles.

USSA’s progressive emphasis on gender equality means that the men’s and women’s fixtures will carry equal weight. RU and Venda open the women’s tournament on the Prospect Fields today, Monday 06 December, with the men’s first kick-off shortly thereafter at the Great Field.

The event sees the nation’s top 16 universities teams in both categories congregate to battle it out for the hotly coveted USSA titles, but that’s not all that’s at stake. USSA will use this tournament to select its squads for the August 2011 World Student Games in China. Furthermore several talent scouts from the Premier Soccer League and the South African Football Association 1st Division are expected to occupy the stands. There will also be an individual awards ceremony.

The tournament, the most prestigious on the tertiary calendar, can be seen as a springboard which has launched many illustrious professional careers, and is expected to do the same for some of the aspiring young stars in attendance this year. This congregation of sporting talent is a potent medium for soccer development in South Africa and many of our current heroes, such as Wits captain Junaid Mashamaite, Banyana Banyana captain Nthabaleng Modiko and AmaZulu striker Lehlohonolo Mjoro are graduates of USSA’s tournaments.

University Sport South Africa’s holistic approach to soccer development has resulted in the addition of a coaching symposium on Tuesday (7 December) 19:00 evening. The USSA Football Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday evening at 20:00 at Eden Grove Blue with their Final Dinner following on Friday at Joza Indoor Centre.

For fixtures click here