Positives for Valhalla despite group stage exit

Valhalla United FC can afford to give themselves a round of applause following a stellar performance at this year’s Bayhill Premier Cup, winning over friend and foe and giving better-fancied squads a run for their money.

They were slotted in a tough group, along with eventual losing finalists, Randburg FC, Mamelodi Sundowns and Plate-section winners, Antalyaspor JPM CT, against whom they played to a 1-all draw in their opening fixture.

They also held the Pretoria-based Sundowns to a 1-all draw, but went down 3-0 to Randburg in their final group stage match.

“It wasn’t an easy group but we got some positives, four points from the two score draws,” said coach Sherwin Souls.

In his first year as coach, having featured in the competition as a player for three years with ASD, Souls was under no illusion of the task at hand as it was only Valhalla’s second appearance at the Bayhill. The last time they qualified was 13 years ago, he said.

“The only difficulties that we had leading up to the tournament, was not being able to have longer training sessions with the boys due to our field having no lights so our sessions had to be always shorter and then also the struggle with the violence in our community. But the coaches at Valhalla United always stayed positive in any situation and with us not having lights on our big field, we had to shuffle sessions to a 5-a-side pitch,” he said.

“Overall I think the tournament organisers have outdone themselves, so a huge thank you to Bayhill Premier Cup for creating this platform for the kids of today,” he said.

“Some brilliant football was played, all teams that participated in the Premier Cup deserved to be there, even the amateur teams gave the academy teams a run for their money,” he said.