After the semi-finals of the DStv Compact Cup, it was teenager Luphumlo Sifumba who was the ‘talk of the town’.
The Cape Town City youngster came off the bench and within seconds scored a fantastic goal as Coastal United beat Dinaledi 3-0 in Saturday’s semi-final.
In the other semi-final it was one of the elder statesmen who stole most headlines, as Itumeleng Khune put in a top performance as the Warriors beat Amabutho 2-1.
Sifumba, who turned 16 last year, has long been hailed as one for the future, and while those at City knew of his potential, his goal, and overall performance has certainly alerted a lot more now.
Kurt Lentjies, the Chippa United head coach who is part of the Coastal technical team, says Sifumba impressed him at training already.
“He wouldn’t be here if we thought, or the supporters that voted for him thought he wasn’t capable,” Lentjies said at the post match presser.
“He showed it in training the two days that we’ve been working, so like I said, as much as we managed to give everyone a chance to play, it was actually a given that he would come on, no doubt about it.
“So whether it was a fan change or any change, we decided yesterday already that this boy, the way he’s training, the way he’s doing things at training, he deserves to play.
“And obviously with Coach Eric, knowing him from Cape Town City, and obviously Coach Steve, I had a look at him for the first time during training and wow, what a player for the future.
“But I mean, not even for the future, why not now? 15 years old, first touch and he scores a goal, but not just the goal, everything that he did after that also.
“So I’m happy for him. Everyone in the technical team, everyone in the team was happy for him. So ja, we just take it from there.”
