by Mary Withers
The Fish Hoek Association Football Club (FHAFC) under-13 A team defeated AJAX Cape Town on Saturday May 16, believed to be the first time that any junior team in the club has beaten AJAX.
“It’s a big deal for a club like Fish Hoek,” said Coach Casey Prince. “We’re only drawing players from the peninsula. AJAX is drawing the best players from all of Cape Town.”
Prince said that because of AJAX’s reputation, this was the biggest game of the year. The win measures how far the team has come since he started coaching the team two years ago.
“For us, beating a team like AJAX is a way to measure our progress, to see how far we’ve come in a short time,” Prince said.
Coaches said one of the keys to winning Saturday’s game was the confidence that the players brought to the field early on. Fish Hoek’s centre back Rion Cuthill scored the first goal in just the fourth minute.
“You could tell they were ready to play the game and it showed as soon as they kicked off the ball,” said Assistant Coach Austin Dietz.
Ryan Serfontein scored the second goal in the 41st minute of the game, bringing the final score to 2-0.
“I was really hungry to win,” Serfontein said. “We passed the ball and we played well as a team. The effort was great.”
Prince said he tries to take a holistic approach to soccer, supporting the boys on and off the field. He said he hopes to empower boys from all the communities in the southern peninsula.
Photo captions:
1. Jesse Donn, the defensive centre mid for Fish Hoek, battles against AJAX in midfield.
2. Fish Hoek’s left back Luthando Iutshetu attacks the ball in Saturday’s game against AJAX.