Kaizer Chiefs’ Under-17s finished in sixth position in the Engen Knockout Challenge, which started last Friday and finished on Sunday, 31 July. The youth tournament was held at Marks Park in Johannesburg.

Thabo Tsutsulupa, who took charge of the Under-17s squad a month ago, isn’t too disappointed: “This was our first tournament together. We reached our objective - the players got to know me and I got to know them.”

Chiefs started on Friday against Platinum Stars with a 1-0 win, before losing with the same scoreline to Mamelodi Sundowns. Nkosingiphole Ngcobo scored the sole goal.

On Saturday, a 1-0 win over FC Eersterus took care that the quarter-final was reached, only to lose out against Orlando Pirates (0-1). Sibongiseni Hlengwa produced the goal against Eersterus.

Two more games for final positions were played on Sunday. The University of Pretoria was beaten 1-0 (Lebohang Malema netted), after which a 1-1 draw followed against SuperSport United (Yaseen Bunting goal). This last game had to be decided on penalties, which Chiefs lost 5-3. As a result of this, a sixth position was reached in the Engen Knockout Challenge, which was won by Orlando Pirates.

“We learnt a lot,” concludes Chiefs’ Under-17 coach Tsutsulupa. “It’s now clear how we will go from here.”