Tigers earn their stripes
ALEXANDRA - Alex Royal Tigers are crowned champions of the U15 Map Games 2017.
Alex Royal Tigers U15 team clawed their way to the 2017 Map Games championship when they beat a determined Gauteng FC 3–2 in a highly spirited game at the Number 3 Square Grounds.
Defending champions Malandela Mighty Heroes did not enter an U13 or U15 team and this paved the way for the crowning of a new champion.
Speaking to Alex News after the match, youthful coach and founder of Tigers, Tiger Matholengwe (20) said he was delighted that at least one of his two teams that reached the finals had clinched the championship.
His U13 team was beaten in the final 3–1 by a gutsy LRC FC.
Read: Astronomical win for Mighty Heroes U17 team in Map Games
“I am over the moon due to the fact that the club is living up to the vision we set ourselves when the club was launched in 2014 and participated in the league for the first time the following year, and we went on to win it with our U13 side,” he said.
“When the club was launched, I set myself numerous goals, one of which was to ensure we dominate Alex football within a few years of our involvement. Here I am, I have done it in just two years.”
Read: Rebels crowned new U17 champions of Map Games
Last year, Tigers won the U13 and U20 league and all his other teams finished in the top four of their league divisions.
Also last year his U13 team won the Map Games. “I am happy I added another division in the finals, the U15s who clinched it for me.
“I look forward to growing the number of divisions that reach the finals of this competition next year,” said Matholengwe, who won his first league title in 2015 with his U13 striped cats while still a Grade 11 pupil at Minerva Secondary School.
