Copa sees reigning champs defend their title successfully
Both Clapham High School and the Transnet School showed tactical awareness in the final.
The reigning Copa Coca-Cola Champions, Pretoria’s Clapham High School, successfully defended its Gauteng 2018 Copa Coca-Cola Provincial title on Saturday, 4 August, at Kagiso Stadium.
This pulsating and exciting soccer tournament allowed fans to witness the arch-rivalry between the Transnet School of Excellence and Clapham High School in the finals. The scintillating game ended with an evenly balanced goalless draw (0–0) after regulation time, forcing the two evenly matched teams to battle it out on penalty kicks.
This saw Clapham gain the upper hand and march to victory with a 4–2 score after the penalty shoot-out.
On the way to the final, Clapham High School, which forms part of the Mamelodi Sundowns Academy, made its intentions clear in its opening encounter against Johannesburg Secondary School, outplaying them and winning by a convincing 3–0 margin.
The school continued its dominance, easily brushing aside Esokwazi High School by a 4–0 margin in its second match. The Gauteng defending champions played against General Smuts High School in the last Group A match, beating the opponents easily, with a score of 2–0, to set up a repeat of last year’s Copa Coca-Cola Gauteng Provincial Play Off final against the Transnet School of Excellence.
In reaching the finals, the Transnet School of Excellence had a tough opening encounter against former champions, Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sport School, as the team edged the Tshwane-based school out by 1–0. The Transnet School continued to gain momentum when it followed up with a 2–0 victory over Vezukhono Secondary School, while the goalless draw against Lukhanyo Secondary School was enough to see the team through to the final.
Both Clapham High School and the Transnet School showed tactical awareness in the final, with the game being a pound to pound type of game, with both schools finding it difficult to find the back of the net during the 90-minute match. The game had to be decided on penalty kicks, which saw Clapham High School prevail as the Gauteng champions with a 4–2 victory over its arch-rivals.
Clapham High’s victory booked the team a spot as the fourth provincial team to partake in the Copa Coca-Cola National Championships final, which is scheduled to take place in Port Elizabeth between 26 and 29 September.
As an addition to this year’s Copa Coca-Cola tournament, Coca-Cola launched its Copa Coca-Cola Future Stars search. This project seeks to handpick talented players with potential and that will be done by Copa Coca-Cola Ambassador, Jabu Shuffle Mahlangu.
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