VFA and TTM in Vhembe derby

The long-awaited GladAfrica Championship League match between Venda Football Academy (VFA) and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) will be played at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday.

TTM must win the match at all costs to restore their lost pride and to revive their hopes of qualifying for the promotional playoffs at the end of the season. Vhadau Vha Damani are still battling to come to terms with the embarrassing 0-4 defeat they had suffered at the hands of Hungry Lions in Kimberly on Tuesday afternoon. Should they fail to collect the maximum points at the expense of VFA, TTM must forget about promotion this season.

TTM will be without their killer striker, Rendani Ndou, tomorrow. He was taken off the pitch on a stretcher with an injury to the head in their Nedbank Cup clash against Sinenkani FC at the Mthatha Stadium last Saturday. The number one goalkeeper for TTM, Edmore Sibande, is likely to be in the team’s starting 11 tomorrow.  Sibande was out of action for two because of injury.

On the other hand, anything less than a victory will do VFA more harm than good. VFA are still in a race for promotion, despite the fact that they had failed to collect the maximum points in their match against Uthongathi FC, which was played at the Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban on Tuesday evening. They played to a goalless draw in a game that was screened live on television.

The defenders of TTM must keep an eye on the strikers of VFA, Rophney Hlungwane, Rudzani “Zoba” Thobo and Tau Rankoko, or else they will not know what will have eaten them at the end of the game.

Black Leopards will travel to Polokwane, where they will try their luck against Polokwane City at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium. Pretoria Callies will host Richards Bay FC at the Lucas Moripe Stadium outside Pretoria. Jomo Cosmos will host University of Pretoria FC at the Olën Park Stadium in Potchefstroom. The other fixtures are JDR Stars vs TS Sporting, Free State Stars vs Hungry Lions and Platinum City Rovers vs Cape Town Spurs.

Date:18 March 2022

By: 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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