MTHULISI SIBANDA

JOHANNESBURG– LOCAL sides, Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits, have joined Spanish outfit, Atletico Madrid, and Mexicans, Club Tijuana, in the semifinals of the 2016 Future Champions Gauteng International.

Wits sealed their place in Friday’s semi-finals with an emphatic 3-1 victory over Chinese visitors Shandong Luneng. Shungu Dutiro netted a brace of goals for The Clever Boys and in doing so took his tally for the tournament to four and leaves him alone at the top of the goal-scorers charts .

Spanish LaLiga giants Atletico made it three wins from three games, and top spot in their pool, with a slender 1-0 success over local side Black Aces.

Guille Niero got the only goal of the game to set up a semi-final with Pirates, the latter finishing top of their pool despite a 1-1 Soweto Derby draw with Kaizer Chiefs.

Club Tijuana sealed the final semifinal spot as they topped Group B despite a 1-0 loss to Belgian side Club Brugge.

The prestigious junior competition for Under-17 teams, now in its eighth year, sees 12 clubs compete for the coveted prize and the opportunity to be crowned champions.

This year’s Future Champions Gauteng tournament has received support from the Gauteng Gambling Board, the Spanish LaLiga, the Clinix Health Group, Sedgars Sport and the Winner brand, Levati Water, Motordeal and Score energy drinks. 

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
BidVest Wits 3 (Edson Khumalo, Shungu Dutiro 2) Shandong Luneng 1 (Chaoyang Liu)
Black Aces 0 Atletico Madrid 1 (Guille Niero)

Torino 4 (Alessandro Iacuaniello 3, Nahuel Jose Busato) Ferroviario Maputo 1 (Luis Sitoe)

Mamelodi Sundowns 1 (Pitso Tlotlego) Atletico Mineiro 2 (Andrew, Alerrandro)

Orlando Pirates 1 (Njabulo Ngcobo) Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Lebohang Lesako)

Club Tijuana 0 Club Brugge 1 (Murad-Han Gonen)