The men’s football side of the University of the Free State (UFS) will be looking to extend an excellent run in the Varsity Football tournament when the team clashes with that of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in round five of the competition.
The Kovsies are unbeaten in three matches, having lost just one, against the North-West University (NWU), by 1 – 2.
Victory against UKZN will intensify Kovsies’ chance of qualifying for the semifinal and possibly reaching the final for the second time in a row. The two sides will face off in the Howard College Rugby Stadium in Durban on Thursday (18/08) at 18:30.
The UFS men are still oozing confidence after a superb performance against the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in a fixture played away on Thursday (11/08).
The local team drew 0 – 0 with the defending champions, who are also vying for a semifinal slot in the competition.
The fixture against UKZN looks easy for the visitors, given the host currently lies at the bottom of the log with a single point and is still without a win after four matches played thus far.
Tebogo Motsamai, Kovsies head coach, is bound to guard against complacency in his camp about the lacklustre opponents UKZN, who could cause a major upset if underestimated.
His team is approaching this match with the aim of gaining maximum points in order to consolidate its position in the tournament standings. Kovsies is currently in third place on the table, with seven points – the same as UJ, in fourth position. The University of Pretoria (Tuks) boasts six points and is in fifth position.
The UFS has failed to translate goal-scoring chances into goals. The team has scored five goals thus far in the competition. This scenario has put Kovsies under immense pressure in the remaining three rounds of matches.
