Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 5y

Peter Leeuwenburgh the hero as Cape Town City win MTN8

Dutch goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh proved the hero with two saves in the penalty shootout as Cape Town City claimed the MTN8 trophy with a 4-1 victory over SuperSport United following a 0-0 draw at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.

It was sweet revenge for City, who had lost on penalties in the 2017 decider to the same opposition at the same venue, but were by far the better side this time round.

They should have won the game inside the 90 minutes as they spurned a host of chances, before Leeuwenburgh saved from Bradley Grobler and Reneilwe Letsholonyane in the shootout.

City take home the R8-million first prize, and win a second trophy in three seasons for the newly-formed club after they also won the 2016 Telkom Knockout, also beating SuperSport in the decider.

After an opening 20 minutes that produced little in the way of goalmouth action, City began to assert their dominance and should have gone into the halftime break with at least one goal.

They appealed for handball when right-back Thami Mkhize saw his low cross strike the arm of SuperSport defender Clayton Daniels, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

From the resultant corner, expertly whipped in by Ayanda Patosi, Ivorian defender Kouassi Kouadja headed wide as he rose above the SuperSport defence.

Thabo Nodada then struck the post with a shot from the edge of the box and Siphelele Mthembu looked certain to crash home the rebound, but he fluffed his shot and the chance was gone.

Just a minute later and the rampaging Mozambican left-back Edmilson Dove delivered an excellent cross that was met unopposed by City midfielder Roland Putsche, but he headed high over the bar when he really should have hit the target.

The chances kept on coming for City and when Gift Links found space down the right, his square-ball was perfect for Patosi, but the attacking midfielder fired over from 12 yards.

There was a slow start to the second period but City then picked up where they left off in the first half.

After Craig Martin had wasted an opportunity, Edmilson was played into space in the box by Patosi, but after cutting back onto his weaker right foot, his low drive was saved by SuperSport goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.

Links had the chance to win it for City inside the 90 minutes, but his scooped shot from Edmilson's cross came back off the crossbar and the match went to extra-time.


In driving rain and on an increasingly heavy pitch, the pace of the game slowed, but City remained the most likely to find the back of the net.

Neither side could grab the winner and for the second year running penalties were needed to separate the teams.  

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