On June 22, the Randburg Association Football Club (RAFC) announced that their U18 team had topped their group which made them qualifiers for the three-day Engen Knockout Challenge which began on July 1 and ended on July 3.
The tournament commemorated the 20th edition of the Engen Knockout Challenge changing lives and building futures through the game of soccer. The tournament was held at Marks Park Sports Club in Emmarentia.
The RAFC U18 team played six games at the tournament. The teams they played against included Highlands Park Football Club, Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, Jomo Cosmos, SuperSport United Football Club, Panorama Football Club, and Orlando Pirates Football Club.
The RAFC played a number of challenging games and managed to finish in seventh place. During the group stage, the boys played against three different teams. The U18 Randburg team drew 0–0 against Highlands Park FC, then lost 0–1 to Kaizer Chiefs FC, but won 3–0 against Jomo Cosmos.
In the quarter-final stage of the tournament, the U18 Randburg team lost 0–1 to SuperSport United FC and suffered an additional defeat in the positional play-offs where they lost 0–1 to Panorama FC. In the 7–8th place play-offs, RAFC played against Orlando Pirates FC and won after Orlando Pirates FC had been disqualified from the tournament.
Calum Brookes from the RAFC shared, “The top eight teams qualify automatically for next year’s tournament so we will be back next year.” He added that everyone at the club was very proud of their team.
Related Article:https://www.citizen.co.za/randburg-sun/449703/local-football-clubs-play-in-celebration-of-youth-day/