Soccer fever hits Joburg
SOCCER fanatics were immersed in schoolboy soccer action this past Heritage weekend, as Jeppe High School for Boys and Parktown Boys High School hosted under-16 and under-14 soccer tournaments from September 22 to 23 respectively.
The Jeppe Boys U16 Soccer Tournament comprised eight teams, which were divided into two groups of four.
The top two sides in each group advanced to the semi-finals of the Cup section, while the bottom two sides faced each other in the Shield section.
Bloemfontein’s Grey College took top honours, scraping past St David’s Marist Inanda 3-1 on penalties in the Cup final. Grey beat St Benedict’s College (5-0), St John’s College (2-0) and hosts Jeppe (2-0) impressively en route to a semi-final encounter against St Stithians College.
The match against the Saints ended in another 2-0 victory for the men from the Free State, who went on to face St David’s Marist Inanda in the final.
The final was a tough encounter, and that was evident as the final ended in a scoreless stalemate. Grey would eventually be crowned champions after a nerve-racking penalty shootout ended 3-1 in favour of the men from Grey.
Grey keeper Lesedi Mokwena was sublime between the sticks and played a huge role in his side’s victory. Mokwena kept five clean sheets and did not concede once throughout the tournament, with his outstanding display earning him the Golden Gloves and Keeper of the Tournament accolades.
King Edward VII School ended the weekend fifth overall but did not leave empty-handed after beating St Benedict’s 2-1 in the Shield final. It was a mixed bag of results for the men from Houghton, who won three, drew one and lost one match. They got their campaign off the mark with an impressive 2-0 victory over eventual finalists St David’s, before drawing 0-0 with Parktown Boys and losing 1-0 to St Stithians.
KES and hosts Jeppe Boys entertained the crowds with a five-goal thriller in the semi-final, with KES breaking the hearts of the home supporters, claiming a 3-2 victory. The Reds had another tough encounter in the final, edging past St Benedict’s (2-1) to lift the Shield trophy.
Jeppe was not the only place for the people to get their footballing fix this past weekend, with Parktown Boys hosting their annual Parktown Boys U14 Soccer Tournament for the fifth year. Ten teams were split into two groups of five, with schools mainly from Gauteng in attendance. Kwazulu-natal had two invitational sides.
Each team played four group stage matches, with the top two sides from each group advancing to the semi-finals, while the rest battled it out in playoff matches for their spot in the semis.
There were some mouth-watering encounters in store for the semi-finals after KES, Jeppe, Parktown and KZN 1 reached the final four stage. KES were impressive in the group round, but could not transfer that form to the knockout stages, losing 3-0 to KZN 1 in the first semi-final. Defending champions Jeppe were ousted 6-5 on penalties by hosts Parktown to reach the final, where they would face KZN 1. KES got the better of Jeppe in the group stages but had to settle for fourth place, after being completely outplayed by Jeppe (5-0) in the 3rd/4th place play-off.
The final between Parktown and KZN 1 was a typical final, with neither team giving an inch. The close encounter ended in misery for the home side, who lost by one goal to KZN 1 (1-0).
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
- Billie Jean King