Karabo Mogudi: Home semifinal a psychological boost for UJ

The two sides meet seven days after UP Tuks ended UJ’s winning streak with a 1-0 win in Pretoria last week.  Ntokozo Madela scored the only goal of that game in the 17th minute.

Speaking exclusively to SABC Sport, Mogudi credited the UJ fans for their unwavering support, saying that the familiarity will bring stability and calmness to his side come Friday evening. 

“Home advantage is always good to have. It’s a psychological boost for the boys as they’ve never lost at home. We’ve built a fortress and even when we faced some seemingly insurmountable challenges, we still prevailed. The 12th player has been behind us all the way and familiarity will bring stability and calmness to the boys,” said Mogudi

UJ and Tuks will meet for the 11th time in the Varsity football tournament since its inception in 2013. The Orange Army have the most wins in this fixture, with five victories to UP-Tuks’ four, while there has been one draw, which has come in the 2018 season. Following last week’s defeat, Mogudi says the mindset is to work harder, take every game seriously and recognise that high performance requires consistency in application. He added that the loss could also be a wake-up call.

When the sides met last week, it was UP-Tuks goalkeeper Koketso Mokou who walked away with the man of the match award. Asked how UJ will try to beat him in the semifinal, Mogudi says they do not prepare for one player.

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“Football is a game of 11v11 on the field. Surely he did not play alone. You do not plan for one player. The fact that he was the man of the match is an indicator of the match events that made him the best player on the day. We shall readjust accordingly.”

The mentor, who is currently on national duty with the national under-20’s, says winning this year’s Varsity Football tournament would mean the world to the entire university as well as the fans, but stressed the importance of working hard for it. 

“It would mean the world to the institution. It would mean a lot to the 12th player who never got to celebrate the 1st one properly due to conditions at the time. We have to work for it though. It will never be handed to us on a silver platter. We have to take it one game at a time."

Photo credit: Catherine Kotze/Asemengage