Sean proves his class at Joburg Summer Cup

Sunday the 17th of February saw the Joburg Eagles hosting their annual Summer Cup played at Randburg AFC. After a couple days of welcome rain, the players were greeted to a glorious Highveld summer's day with high humidity levels after incessant rain.
There were a total of 15 players from both both the host club, Joburg Eagles, and the Pretoria Flickers. In keeping with tradition of the FA Cup and local Nedbank Cup fixtures on the same weekend, all draws were random, and this caused some interesting matchups in the first round.
Johan Niewenhuys from the Eagles caused the biggest shock by defeating one of the favourites, Jayden van der Merwe from Pretoria Flickers, on penalties after a tight goalless game. The tie of the round was the 'Green Family' flick off between father Greg and daughter, Alyssa.
The game ended goalless and went to the dreaded penalty shoot out where Alyssa was in sublime form by saving a number of flicks and then converting her second penalty, which was voted Goal of the Day. She was roared on by the local support and surprised her father by advancing to the next round. The only junior in the tournament, Jason Pienaar, had an impressive showing against the very talented Kegan van der Merwe from Pretoria and went down by a solitary goal in a very tight and entertaining game. Chris also surprised Gary by eliminating him in the shoot-out after a goalless tie.
The quarters dished up one of the oldest derbies in world Subbuteo, where best friends for over 60 years, and Subbuteo adversaries for almost the same period, Chris and Johan, flicked off with the usual good natured chirps and taunts. The game ended goalless and Chris qualified for the semis by clinching a nailbiting 3-2 penalty victory. The remaining top seeds, namely Clifford, Sean and Jason Kennedy, advanced to the semis.
Clifford and Sean advanced to the final by accounting for Jason and Chris respectively.
The final saw the two good friends and Subbuteo rivals, Clifford and Sean, square off in a mouth-wateriing final. Sean proved his class and welcome return to the Eagles by securing a well deserved 1-0 victory and secure his first, of many future titles for 2019.
Jason also stamped his return to the Eagles, by defeating Chris in the 3rd place play-off to claim the bronze medal. Once again, Nita dished up a culinary treat to insure all players were sufficiently nourished.
Thanks to all in making the Joburg Summer Cup 2019 a great success.