Cosmos crowned champs
2008-11-27
Jaco van Wyk
THE organisers of the Mayoral Soccer Cup, along with the Mayor of Drakenstein, Charmaine Manuel, can be a proud bunch this week, as one and a half months of hard fought football came to an entertaining end on Saturday. With the teams participating for the trophies, as well as big cash prizes being up for grabs, the spirits of the teams and supporters could literally be felt in the Mbekweni Stadium - the venue where the grand finalé of the Mayoral Soccer Cup reached a climax. In the end it was the competition favourites in the senior men’s final, Mbekweni Cosmos, who walked away with the coveted trophy after a high paced clash with African Jaguars. This match truly presented the fully packed stadium with a mouth-watering main dish. First up was the u.13 final, between the young sides of Mbekweni United and Eleven Ideas. It was a close fought battle with United only just edging their opponents out, with 1-0. In the u.15 final the two sides from Mbekweni, Mbekweni United and Mbekweni Cosmos, threw everything at each other with the aim of walking away with the title. Eventually it was the side from Cosmos who managed to grab gold with a 1-0 victory. In the ladies’ final, Paarl United Soccer Club managed a shock victory over last year’s winners, Lady Hawk United, with an excellent 1-0 victory. The final match of the day, the senior men’s final, was played at an incredible pace and gave the audience everything they could ask for. After Cosmos managed to take the lead in the 18th minute after slotting a penalty (a Jaguars defender handled the ball illegally in the penalty area), Jaguars came back firing with one attack after the other. Both teams finished strong in the first half, with Jaguars striking the post, followed by a fine strike, inches from the target, by a Cosmos forward. Both teams continued to apply the pressure in the second half, but it was the Jaguars who caught Cosmos’s defence off guard to score a well-deserved equaliser, halfway through the second half. Cosmos refused to accept the 1-1 score line as they answered immediately with a goal to take a 2-1 lead. After both sides still managed to launch several further attacks, Cosmos’s two goals proved to be just enough to beat the underdogs, and they deservedly walked away with the Mayoral Cup. As the champions of the Mayoral Cup Soccer Tournament, Mbekweni Cosmos also received a cash prize of R15 000.
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