Mpumalanga Aces has been knocked out of the 2015 SAFA U17 Boys National Championships.
Mpumalanga Aces has been knocked out of the 2015 SAFA U17 Boys National Championships.
The tournament, funded by the 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy Trust, is running in Soweto at the Nike Football Training Centre, and comes to an end on Sunday, 12 July.
Aces was one of the three invited club teams together with Mamelodi Sundowns.
But Aces failed to live up to expectation – losing two matches (2-3 and 1-0 to Gauteng and Western Cape respectively) and were held to a one draw by Mpumalanga Province.
In the last four, Bidvest Wits (Group B) will take on hosts Gauteng (Group C) while Mamelodi Sundowns (Group A) will lock horns with Limpopo who finished as the best placed runner up. The other three sides topped their groups. This is an improvement for the Provinces as they now have two representatives whereas they only had two last year.
Not many goals were scored on the second day of action – just 22 compared to the 30 on the first day – with KwaZulu Natal the big winners as they beat North West 7-1, but it was not enough to see them through to the last four. KZN ended second in Group B with four points, followed by North West and Free State on three and two respectively.
Wits ensured their qualification with a 5-0 romp over North West – who conceded 12 in one day.
Mamelodi Sundowns is the only side that finished unbeaten with nine points following three wins in the group stages. They were also the highest scorers with 12 goals and did not concede. They were joined in the semis by Limpopo who beat Eastern Cape 2-1 to register two wins and be the best placed runner up.
Northern Cape and Eastern Cape could only amass one point each.
Group C was a tight affair with both Gauteng and Western Cape finishing on five points each – the hosts went through on a better goal difference.
Both won one match each and drew two, but Gauteng scored three goals to two of Western Cape.
Mpumalanga Province went home with three points, with Aces bottom of the table with just one after failing to win a single match.
The semi-finals and third/fourth place play-off continue at the Nike Centre on Friday, 10 July with Saturday declared a rest day for the teams.
The final will be staged at the Dobsonville Stadium on Sunday, 12 July at 10h00 as a curtain raiser to the World Cup qualifier between the South African Women’s U20 National Team (Basetsana) and Botswana, which kicks off at 15h00.