It's now or never for struggling VFC

With two matches remaining before the end of the current Motsepe Foundation Championship League soccer season, the future of Venda Football Club (VFC) is still hanging by a thread. The team must collect at least four points from the two remaining matches to retain their league franchise for at least another season.

Maunavhathu, as they are affectionately called, had done the unexpected last Sunday when they crushed Pretoria Callies 3-0 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium outside Pretoria. Unfortunately for the Thohoyandou side, the victory was not enough to take them out of danger. VFC is currently lying in the third spot from the bottom of the log with 31 points, one better than Marumo Gallants.

Platinum City Rovers has already been relegated to the lower division. They will not survive the chop, even if they win their two remaining matches as they have only 24 points in their league account.

VFC’s first mammoth task will be to try and beat Milford FC at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Sunday. A quick glance at the situation in which VFC and Milford find themselves shows that the game will be the mother of all battles. Although they are lying in the 12^th spot on the log standings, Milford is tied with VFC on 31 points. Milford was pushed deeper into the relegation quagmire by Magesi FC, who brutally crushed them 3-1 at Polokwane’s Old Peter Mokaba Stadium last Sunday. Stopping VFC’s strikers, Thabelo Tshikweta, Thifhelimbilu Magalela, and Matimu Tshabalala, will not be an easy task for the defenders of Milford.

Thabelo Tshikweta is fast becoming VFC’s household name. The lethal striker scored a brace when VFC walloped Pretoria Callies 3-0 last Sunday. He also scored his team’s equalising goal when VFC played to a 1-1 draw with Maritzburg United at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Tuesday, 30 April.

Should they manage to beat Milford on Sunday, VFC will need at least one point in their last fixture against Magesi FC on Sunday, 19 May.

Date:10 May 2024

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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