Roses, City crowned Challenge Cup champs, newcomers Eagles soar to new heights

Habitual tournament winners, Gugulethu’s Cape Town Roses cemented their dominance in the  Engen Knockout Challenge girls’ under-20 division when they beat RV United 2-0, at Erica Park, in Belhar, on Sunday to claim a historic fourth consecutive title. In the boys under-18 section, former champions and last year’s losing finalists, Cape Town City FC, beat debutants  Eagles Performance Academy (EPA) 3-1 to lift the trophy.

With the Cape leg of the competition done and dusted, Roses and City will now fly the flag for the Mother City at the competition’s national championships in October.

Newcomers EPA also made their mark at this year’s edition, with Eagles striker Jack Kiewitt named the tournament’s top goalscorer, and under-18 coach Shamieg Mc Laurie collecting the coach-of-the-tournament award.

Hanover Park born and bred, Mc Laurie knows a thing or two about getting the best out of his young chargers, having been involved with every aspect of the game and organising several successful overseas soccer tours in recent years. A well-travelled player, Mc Laurie has had stints as a junior with Stephanians Ottery, Avendale, Ajax Cape Town, and in the ABC Motsepe League with Baltic Rangers/Glendene United. 

Established in 2023, Eagles has already earned a reputation as a formidable side, with its under-17s winning last year’s FC Kapstadt under-23 tournament.

He said the idea was to allow them to compete against much older players to help them improve mentally on a footballing level. 

“We ended up winning the under-23 Kapstadt tournament and also finished in the last round of 16 in last year’s Coke Cup,” he said.

“Towards the end of last year,” he said, “we started the Bayhill playoff process, and we managed to qualify for the tournament proper. We went on to reach the winner’s section (last 16) and lost out to PSL side Amazulu on penalties.” 

Even though the result also did not go their way on Sunday, Mc Laurie is confident that his side will continue to fly high.

“I think we were probably the youngest squad at this year’s Knockout Challenge,” he said.

 “Our plan was to approach this tournament one game at a time. As we moved through the group stage into the winning section, the boys started to believe that they could go all the way,” he said.

“As our name suggests, we encourage our players to soar to their full potential. We always want to soar high up there,” he said.

Individual Award winners:

Girls

Goalkeeper-of-the-tournament (Bilqees Salie, Salt River Blackpool)              

Defender-of-the-tournament (Anathi Nqothani, Dangerous Heroes) 

Midfielder-of-the-tournament (Zoe De Kock, RV United)

Top goalscorer (Lisakhaya Situluenim, Cape Town Roses)

Striker-of-the-tournament (Lisakhaya Situlueni, Cape Town Roses)

Coach-of-the-tournament (Xolile Madikane, Cape Town Roses)

Player-of-the-tournament (Lisakhaya Situlueni, Cape Town Roses)

Fairplay-team-of-the-tournament (Dangerous Heroes)

Boys

Goalkeeper-of-the-tournament (Vaughen Sabatian, Valhalla United)           

Defender-of-the-tournament (Abulele Dlekedla, Cape Town City) 

Midfielder-of-the-tournament (Joshua Taylor, Cape Town City)

Top goalscorer (Jack Kiewiet, Eagles Performance Academy)

Striker-of-the-tournament (Raqul Daniels, Valhalla United)         

Coach-of-the-tournament (Shamieg Mc Laurie, Eagles Performance Academy)

Player of the tournament (Joshua Taylor, Cape Town City)

Fairplay-team-of-the-tournament (Safa Cape Town Academy 

Referee-of-the-tournament (Cleo Ben)