Grassroots tournaments good for growth - Spurs coach

fuad Esack|Published 10 months ago

Rygersdal’s Samuel Booysen and Spurs’ Tyrese Heynes challenge for the ball during their sides’ Bayview FC under-16 Youth Cup semi-final, at Strandfontein, last Friday. Picture: Fuad Esack

Rygersdal’s Noah Arendse, left, and Cape Town Spurs Rahdi Waggie tussle for possession during their sides’ Youth Cup semi-final match, at Strandfontein, last Friday. Picture: Fuad Esack

Rygersdal’s Joshua Prince and goalkeeper Yasien Doutie clear the ball during their semi-final fixture against Cape Town Spurs. Picture: Fuad Esack

Rygersdal's Laszio Jacobs gets his foot on the ball ahead of Spurs Noah Hempe during their sides’ Youth Cup semi-final fixture, at Strandfontein. Picture: Fuad Esack

Cape Town Spurs and Rygersdal FC met in the semi-finals of this year’s Bayview FC under-16 Youth Cup, in Strandfontein, on Saturday, with the Young Urban Warriors coming away with a 3-2 win.

In the final, the boys in the red and white strip faced Fish Hoek’ Ubuntu Football Academy, going down 1-0.

Cape Town Spurs captain Thurston Johnson introduces Safa Cape Town president Bennett Bailey and City Safety and Security Portfolio chairman Mzwakhe Nqavashe, to the squad ahead of their Youth Cup final match against Ubuntu. Picture: Fuad Esack

Ubuntu captain, Luke Hendricks, found the back of the net from a set-piece early in the first half, coming off a free kick taken by Ishaam Tillling, who himself was red-carded just before the break.

Cape Town Spurs coach Andy Herman keeps a close eye on the action during his side’s Youth Cup final match against Ubuntu. Picture: Fuad Esack

Spurs coach Andrew “Andy” Herman, Bayhill Premier Cup coach-of-the-tournament in 2023, had nothing but praise for the competition, despite the result not going their way.

After getting their campaign off to a goalless draw against Ravensmead, Spurs eventually found their groove, beating Stanturf 4-1 and Lavender Hill 4-0 in the tournament’s group stage.

“As a club we always support this tournament as we know it gives our players an opportunity to play against teams from other LFA’s and help us as a team with developing our players. This I’m sure will be the same for other clubs,” he said.

Cape Town Spurs’ Tyrese Heyne keeps his eye on the ball while trying to keep the Rygersdal defenders at bay. Picture: Fuad Esack

Habitual cup finalists and winners of various junior tournaments, Spurs can be forgiven for thinking they've let this one slip through their fingers.

By all accounts, they played to their strengths, created chances of their own, but just could not find the back of the net as Ubuntu did well to contain a relentless Spurs attack.

“We could see that most of their strategy was around their tall players, to play off the second ball as well as set pieces. After their dominance of the first few minutes, we started getting in the game more and our wide players did very well which then created more opportunities our way. We just didn't take our chances which cost us the game and the title,” he said.

Spurs assistant coach Carlisle Kinnear concurs, saying: “Overall I think the competition was good, a lot of teams produced some good football. And that is what we want to see, the development of players. As much as it’s about winning, you want to see players grow individually as well as a team. A lot of the kids these days compete against friends and they want to have that bragging rights and tournaments like the Bayview allows for this to happen,” he said.

Spurs’ Rahdi Waggie and Rygersdal’s Noah Arendse battle for possession during their sides’ Youth Cup semi-final match. Picture: Fuad Esack