“That’s one of our goals as a team, to produce players that can go compete at international level." - UWC Head Coach, Thinasonke Mbuli.
The University of the Western Cape (UWC) Ladies Football team has had a remarkable start to the 2024 season with an impressive record that reflects their hard work. With only two losses highlighting their competitive edge in the league, the team currently lies third on the Hollywoodbets Super League log with 13 games played, 9 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses (W 9 D 2 L 2).
Under the astute guidance of the South African senior Women’s National team assistant coach, Thinasonke Mbuli, the team has demonstrated resilience and a winning spirit. In an exclusive interview, Coach Mbuli shared her reflections on the season so far and discussed the key elements the team will focus on during the off-season.
UWC kicked off their season with a four goal thriller when they faced Copperbelt FC in their debut match of the season, the two teams played to a 2-2 stalemate. The Western Cape side collected two wins, two draws and one loss in their opening five matches. They clinched their first victory of the season in their second encounter of the league, they thrashed First Touch Ladies 7-1 and their other win was a narrow 1-0 against defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies. Their only defeat was against JVW (1-0) in their third fixture, while playing out to a 1-1 draw against Royal AM.
“We didn’t start well, we dropped points in the first five games [that] we played [but I am] happy that after that we managed to win games - so I’m happy with the slow progress. [The] key takeaways so far [is that] we’ve really improved on set plays, [we’ve] scored some crucial goals from set plays, which has been an area we were not so good in previous seasons." Said Coach Thina.
Contrary to the typical off-season downtime, Coach Mbuli has implemented a rigorous training schedule to keep the players engaged and fit, she shared that their training regime had not steered from the norm. “We were training as normal, with the normal schedule, just excluding those who were writing on certain days.”
Several UWC players had the honour of being called up to the national team during the Women’s international break, Coach Mbuli expressed confidence that this experience will greatly benefit the team.
“We had four players in camp [representing Banyana Banyana]. The break came at the right time because it’s mid-year exams now, so the players really needed that time to be off football and concentrate on their academics, but the team was also training, preparing for our next game against the University of Fort Hare.”
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In her concluding remarks, the Coach highlighted the impact that the players who went on national duty will bring to the UWC and a heightened sense of growth to the team.
“That’s one of our goals as a team, to produce players that can go compete at international level, so we are happy we’ve been doing that very well for the past few years. It’s more of a player growth, more than anything and yes it does help the team to have players with that international experience.”
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