By Duncan Kgankenna
Jwaneng Galaxy rewrote history this past weekend as they beat Gaborone United (GU) to be crowned the 2018/2019 season Mascom Top 8 tournament champions.
The win meant Galaxy broke GU’s two finals unbeaten record and now remains the only team to have never lost a Mascom Top 8 final game.
It also meant the Jwaneng based team joins the elite ranks of GU and Township Rollers as the only teams to have won the tournament more than once, with each having won it two times.
To achieve the feat, Galaxy thumped Gaborone United 2 ÔÇô 0, thanks to a goal in each half courtesy of Thero Setisle and Atisang Batsi respectively.
The game seemed procedural for Galaxy from the onset as they had an upper hand on ball possession and a fighting spirit that led them to deal with their opponents with ease.
GU on the other hand were a shadow of a team that had eliminated their city arch rivals Rollers as they were torn apart by the sheer brilliance of Miguel da Costa’s side.
The tournament also had a first in its history as five (5) players ended as the tournament’s joint top goal scorers. All the five players scored two goals each, the lowest tally for top scorers since the tournament began in the 2011/12 season.
The award attracts a P10 000 award and since there are five they have to divide the money and share equally among themselves.
The five top goal scorers are; Thero Setsile, Tebogo Sembowa, Tumisang Orebonye, Obonye Maome and Kamogelo Matshaba. With five players tied, all eyes will now be on the Botswana Premier League (BPL) and the Mascom Top 8 Local Organising Committee (LOC) to see how they will resolve the impasse.
Football commentator, Aupa Mokotedi commenting on the top goal scorers he said, “It does not matter whether they scored two goals each. They have scored according to their effort on the day and there is nothing surprising because the tournament is very short” observed Mokotedi.
Mokotedi has no problems with the players sharing the P10 000 prize money that comes with the award. “It is fair that way because that is what has been budgeted for and we cannot expect extra money when it was not budgeted for” explained Mokotedi.
He said his only problem is that the BFA stated previously that if more than 1 player emerge top goal scorers it is up to the discretion of the sponsor to give extra money. “The laws must be specific and should be set before the competition and to be followed to the latter. I don’t like this discretion because it can be open to abuse and it will depend on the management of the day to do what they want. For instance, it will be wrongi f they give this season and next season they don’t give” explained Mokotedi.
Previous Mascom Top 8 Scorers:
2011/12 SEASON : Mogakolodi Ngele (Township Rollers): 6 goals
2012/13 SEASON : Ronald Chikomo and Tebogo Sembowa (Gaborone United), Lemponye Tshireletso (BDF XI): 4 goals each
2013/14 SEASON : Jerome Louis (Township Rollers): 5 goals
2014/15 SEASON : Benson Shilongo (Gaborone United): 5 goals
2015/16 SEASON : Maano Ditshupo (Township Rollers) and Ronald Chikomo (Orapa United): 4 goals each
2016/17 SEASON : Kumbee Rogers Katjiteo (BDF XI) & Tendai Nyumasi (Orapa United): 4 goals each
2017/18 SEASON : Obonwe Maome (Gaborone United): 5 goals
