Urban Warriors march to victory!

Ajax Cape town's u19 team were once again crowned Metropolitan Premier Cup champions after a nail-biting final, which saw the Urban Warriors beat a tactically sound Berea Albion outfit. 

The fist half saw the Cape side really show their class, by controlling possession, elegantly moving the ball around the field and persistently putting Berea's goal under threat, Ajax's persistence finally paid off when a ball through to frontman Tashreeq Harris saw him wriggle free from his marker and calmly slot home from inside the box. Albion made a substitute soon after the goal and brought on central midfielder Daniel Viera, the substitution proved to be a stroke of genius when having played barely 5 minutes Viera scored Berea's equalizer  the Ajax defense was nowhere to be found. The first half ended 1-1

The second half started off with a moment of confusion, lack of communication between Ajax captain Abubaker Mobara and goalkeeper Brandon Peterson lead to Berea Albions second goal, Peterson rushing out of his box to deal with a through ball which had gone through his defense did not see on coming central defender Mobara, with both players going for the ball and communication being absent, the two collided, leaving the goals wide open for Sege Gado to score an easy tap in. Their second goal gave them a confidence boost and suddenly Berea were having spells of sustained possession and started taking the game to the Urban Warriors, Ajax however showed resilience and with 14 minutes left on the clock substitute Olwethu Maloyi got them the equalizer.the half ended 2-2 which meant the match would go to extra time.

Extra time saw both teams really give everything they had in search for a match winning goal, but clear signs of fatigue were being shown by the youngsters who were playing their seventh game in just six days. Extra time ended with no goal being scored, So the winner of the Metropolitan Premier Cup would be decided by the dreaded penalty shootout.

Ajax were clinical in the shootout missing none of their five penalties, Berea only needed to convert their fifth penalty to take the shootout to sudden death, but Ajax Goalkeeper Brandon Peterson had other ideas and pulled off an outstanding match winning save, which saw Ajax crowned MPC champions for the fifth time in their history.

The Urban Warriors fully deserved the title, having toppled giants African Soccer Developments(ASD),Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns en-route to the final.

Road to the final

round robin

Ajax 7-0 Belhar Spurs

Ajax 2-1 Harmony Academy

Ajax 1-0 Atlantis Leeds

Last 16

Ajax 1-0 ASD CT

Quarterfinals

Ajax 1-0 Kaizer Chiefs

Semi-finals

Ajax 0(3) -0(1) Sundowns (match went to penalties)

Finals

Ajax 2(5)-2(4) Berea Albion (match went to penalties)