Madridtas ready to start journey to Nedbank Cup

The last batch of the round-of-32 matches of the Nedbank Cup will be played at different venues throughout the country this weekend. Madridtas FC, who bought their ABC Motsepe League franchise from Black Leopards at the beginning of the current soccer season, will be on the road on Sunday. They will travel to Bloemfontein, where they will lock horns with D General FC at the Free State Stadium.

Although they will be playing away from home, Madridtas are adamant that they will beat General and proceed to the next round of the prestigious competition. According to the head coach of the team, Mr Mashudu “Coolio” Ndou, their wish was to play against a team from the same division in the last-32 round. General FC are campaigning in the Free State stream of the ABC Motsepe League.

Ndou said that they would use the game to gauge their level of readiness for the national promotional playoffs. He restated that their aim was to win the league title and partake in the promotional playoffs at the end of the season. The former head coach of Munaca FC has further revealed that he was deeply concerned about the fact that their team’s playmaker, Hulisani Mashau, will not be available for their game against General. Mashau is still serving his suspension after he was red-carded in their home game against United Artists at the Tshifudi Stadium a fortnight ago.

The spirit is high in the Madridtas’ camp after they unexpectedly beat one of the league-title contenders, Maruleng Celtic, 1-0 at the Drakensberg Stadium outside Phalaborwa last Saturday.

The other Nedbank Cup weekend fixtures are Stellenbosch FC vs Pretoria Callies, Lamontville Golden Arrows vs TS Galaxy, Platinum City Rovers vs Swallows FC, Ravens FC vs Spain FC, JDR Stars vs Hungry Lions, Crystal Lake vs Orlando Pirates, Richards Bay FC vs Polokwane City, Maritzburg City vs Paarl United, Kaizer Chiefs vs Milford FC, and NC Professionals vs Chippa United.

Sport - Date: 23 February 2024

Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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