12 August 2014
Brazilian side Santos were crowned the inaugural champions of the eLAN Durban Under-19 International Football Tournament after defeating Portuguese club Benfica 2-0 in the final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on the weekend.
Their South American rivals Boca Junior from Argentina claimed third with a penalty shoot-out victory over Feyenoord.
The glory belonged to Santos, however, after they claimed the main prize and bragging rights following a memorable tournament in Durban.
Substitute’s goals
It looked as though the final with Benfica might go to penalties before Igor Santana came on as a substitute to score two goals.
That was enough to secure the trophy for Santos, who ended as the top-scorers in the competition with 10 goals. Their forward Matheus Silva finished as the leading individual scorer with three goals.
Third place
The third-place play-off ended with Boca Juniors taking the bronze medal. They took the lead in the game through Leonardo Suarez with a neat finish, which was his second goal of the campaign.
Feyenoord, though, drew level after Ecuadorian Kevin Wila put the ball into his own net for Boca Juniors, handing the European side a lifeline.
That took the game to penalties and after Feyenoord missed two of theirs in the shoot-out, Boca took the victory 4-2 from the spot.
South African under-19 team
The South African under-19 national team failed to make the semi-finals after finishing behind Feyenoord and Santos in Group B.
They shared a goalless draw with the Dutch team in their first outing, before suffering a 0-4 reversal against Santos. In their final group game, they drew 1-1 with Everton, who finished bottom of the table.
KZN Academy XI
In Group A, the KZN Academy XI propped up the standings after three losses from their three outings.
They went down 0-1 to Roma, fell 0-2 to Boca Juniors, and were edged 1-2 by Benfica.
The eLAN Durban Under-19 International Football Tournament, in its inaugural year, was a partnership between the South African Football Association, KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and Ethekwini Municipality.
SAinfo reporter
