Saturday 22 February 2020, Pretoria, South Africa :
A dark, overcast day in Pretoria saw 8 players participate for the first piece of silverware on the 2020 PFC calendar - the PFC Copa del Apertura. The field of entries also included Marlin Boyd - playing in his event again since May 2018.
The pick of Round 1 action saw Conway Julie holding the defending 2019 PFC Copa del Apertura Champion, Kegan vd Merwe, to a 0-0 draw. And the signs were perhaps showing that Kegan's work was cut out to defend his title - as we all know, defending titles at PFC is hard work as we tend to have plenty of "rotation" when it comes to title winners!
Further Round 1 action saw Adam Murray stun Julian vd Merwe with a great strike "on the roll" for Adam to record his first ever win over Julian!
In Round 2 action, Jayden vd Merwe raced to the top of the standings - thanks to a 2-0 win over Adam. Suffering a 1-0 defeat in Round 1 to Jayden, it was Gary Downs who "bounced" back with a 1-0 win over the returning Marlin Boyd. It was Conway making progress with a 2-1 win over Julian for Conway to go joint 3rd at the end of the round! The highlight of Round 2 saw Bevin Reed and Kegan play out to an entertaining 0-0 draw - the draw handing Jayden the top spot over Bevin at that stage.
Round 3 action saw Gary record a 1-0 win over Kegan for Gary to continue his climb up the standings - clearly Kegan's shooting boots (or should I say "shooting finger") was missing on the day! Jayden was frustrated to a 0-0 draw against Conway (the draw enough to keep Conway tied 3rd with Gary), and then Bevin tied Jayden at the top on 5 points with a 2-0 win over Julian. Then the "big" match of Round 3 between Adam and Marlin - as these two had been having a go at each other on social media about their possible meeting on the day! All the "pre-match talk" did deliver an excellent match, as Marlin took the lead after 2 minutes of play, with Adam equalising 4 minutes later for that match to end 1-1. In the end "all smiles" and no "bragging rights" (for now) for either player!
Then, the drama of Round 4 - Gary made it 3 wins in a row when he convincly beat Julian by 3-0, for Gary to top the standings on 6 points! Adam and Kegan ended the day with a 0-0 draw - with each player pulling off at least one good save to deny the other a winning end to their day! Another "grudge" match saw Marlin and Conway play out to a 0-0 draw as well - the draw enough for Conway to clinch a well deserved 4th place finish on the day! Then the "Grande Finale" between Bevin Reed and Jayden vd Merwe - with both players sitting on 5 points, and Gary Downs already having secured a potential play-off place (sitting on 6 points) - a "winner takes all" match for Bevin and Jayden. From the flick-off, Jayden adopted a fast flowing match -seeing one customary very "long range" shot from Jayden tipped onto the upright and out for a corner by Bevin! Actually it seemed as if Bevin was creating more chances with his usual methodical, slow build up play because Jayden was playing the exact opposite - playing "at pace". Then, in the final minute of play, a defensive error by Bevin saw Jayden strike a looping shot over Bevin's keeper for Jayden to clinch his second Copa del Apertura title - having last won the title in 2018.
In so doing, Jayden then joins elder brother Kegan with two Copa del Apertura titles overall! This triumph also marks Jayden's 23rd WASPA title to date!
In the end, a great day of Subbuteo fun played under true sporting freindship.
Individual acknowledgements on the day :
"Goal Blitz" : Bevin Reed ended the day as the top goal scorer
"Player of the Day" : Gary Downs for his 3 wins in a row to clinch an excellent 2nd place overall
"Moment of the Day" : Adam Murray for his excellent strike in Round 1 to record his first ever win over Julian
"Tough as Nails" : Conway Julie for his deserved 4th place finish, and posting an undefeated run all day
A final word on the "theme of the day". The event was played under the theme of Manchester Utd vs Liverpool - and as the current state of affairs in world football, it can be seen that Liverpool are in better form than Man Utd. As for our day's "Team Man Utd" - too much reliance was placed on our "main man" (Jayden), and the fact that we had a last minute change to the team did not help our cause either - an ill feeling Julian (under medication) was called up from reserve to replace the unavailable Chessray Jooste.
As for our day's "Team Liverpool" - an excellent team effort and perhaps there was no surprise that the day's individual acnowledgements went to all of the "Team Liverpool" players!?? Below is a summary of how the two teams performed on the day :
 |
| Team Liverpool on the day |
Gary Downs = 9p Jayden vd Merwe (Capt) = 10p
Bevin Reed (Capt) = 7p Kegan vd Merwe = 3p
Conway Julie = 6p Marlin Boyd = 2p
Adam Murray = 5p Julian vd Merwe = 0p
As always, a big thank you to all who attended to make the day a great success. Next - the PFC Founders Cup, celebrating the club's 7th year anniversary!
The PFC website & facebook page will be updated shortly with photo's & news content at :
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PFC-SA/519566284755728
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