Ajax Cape Town advanced to the semifinal of the lucrative Coca-Cola Cup competition when they beat the star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns on a penalty shoot-out 5-4 in a quarterfinal game played at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night.
For Ajax, Quinton Jacobs’s penalty shot was saved by Rafael Dudamel. Moeneeb Josephs saved the attempt by Surprise Moriri, but he was adjudged to have moved off his line and this time Moriri made no mistake. Clement Mazibuko then kicked wide of the upright and the shoot-out went to sudden death. Manqoba Ngwenya’s shot was saved by Josephs, who turned out to be the hero of the game.
Ajax opened the scoring in the third minute when Franklyn Cale centred and Stanton Lewis’s shot was parried by the Argentinian goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel. Bryce Moon, following up, netted the ball.
Ten minutes later, Ajax’s new signing Quinton Jacobs from Namibia, who only got his work permit this week, had a chance to double the score but hesitated before shooting and his shot was blocked.
The home side were now well on top and in the 18th minute, a corner kick from the left was headed goalwards by Nhlanhla Shabalala, but Vuyo Mere headed off the line.
In the 27th minute, Jose Torrealba’s header was brilliantly saved by Josephs. Two minutes later, Mere again cleared the ball off the line from another header off Shabalala. The half time score remained at 1-0.
Sundowns had more power in the second half and it was just a matter of time before they scored.
In the 53rd minute, Josephs brought off a spectacular save from a shot by David Kannemeyer. Two minutes later, the visitors equalised when Sapula beat four defenders from the right before centring and Torrealba headed home.
On the hour, Torrealba’s 25m powerful shot was tipped over the bar by Josephs and the match remained 1-1 after 90 minutes and remained that way after 30 minutes of extra time. — Sapa