SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi
THE final whistle will be blown on the Coca-Cola Challenge Cup this Sunday when Sundowns host Orlando Pirates at the Israeli-designed Odi Stadium north- west of Pretoria.
Pirates enter the match needing an eight-goal victory to overtake arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs on goal difference while success for Sundowns would lift them above Wits into 11th position.
While the Buccaneers refuse to officially raise the white flag, leading forward Jerry Skhosana has admitted on national television that the African champions have no chance of winning by such a wide margin.
After suffering their first defeat of the competition against Vaal Professionals in Sasolburg two weeks ago, Pirates needed to conquer Cape Town Spurs, Witbank Aces and Sundowns by a 12-goal aggregate to pip Chiefs.
Numerous wasted chances against mid-table Spurs and lowly Aces restricted Pirates to a couple of two- goal victories and Sundowns are capable of providing much tougher opposition.
New coach Reinhard Fabisch is taking the match so seriously that he wanted Sundowns to play three matches against leading clubs in Zimbabwe as part of their preparations.
However, no financial agreement could be reached so the “Brazilians” lost out on a chance to do some bonding ahead of the match with Pirates and the start of the Coca-Cola Cup next weekend. While Sundowns players have had a chance to draw breath with only one match in four weeks, Pirates look increasingly tired due to a punishing domestic and international programme.
Helman Mkhalele and John Moeti, members of the Bafana Bafana African Nations’ Cup-winning squad, are clearly suffering under the intense pressure of having to regularly perform twice a week.
Sundowns enter the match with the psychological advantage of having whipped Pirates 4-1 in the pre- season Iwisa Charity Spectacular semifinals at FNB Stadium last February. But the Mamelodi club flattered to deceive, losing the final to Kaizer Chiefs and suffering a humiliating four-goal reverse at home to QwaQwa Stars in the BP Top 8 Cup semifinals.
This drubbing triggered the departure of Clemens Westerhof, the Dutch coach who had arrived in South Africa a year earlier fresh from guiding Nigeria to the 1994 World Cup finals.
Pirates recovered swiftly from the heavy loss to Sundowns and Russian coach Victor Bondarenko had an unbeaten domestic record until Ernest Marumo snatched a last-minute winner for Professionals.
The Buccaneers were desperate to lift the Challenge Cup to secure a third consecutive appearance in the African competition next year. They could also guarantee a further showing by sucessfuly defending the title this year.
Chiefs, ironically, may not take up the option of playing in Africa with managing director Kaizer Motaung admitting last weekend that he was concerned about the high cost of competing.
“It cost Chiefs more than R100 000 last time (1993) and while the final decision will not be mine alone, I am against competing in the Champions’ Cup because there is no prize money at stake,” the former national star said.
At the weekly National Soccer League press conference last Tuesday, Pirates admitted that they had spent more than R1-million campaigning in the competition.
Club PRO S’khumbuzo Mthembu stressed, however, that playing in Africa is not only about money … “we have a responsibility to our supporters and the nation to play in Africa”.
Mthembu was critical of 1995 Castle League winners Cape Town Spurs for not competing this year. “They had the finances to play and I just thought it was unethical for them to have pulled out,” he said.
While the Challenge Cup offers a place in the Champions’ Cup to the winners, there is no prize money because the event is not part of the official football calendar.
Faced with a six-month gap between the traditional February start to the season and the launch of the Premier League in August, officials introduced a one-round championship.
Besides the incentive of winning a place in the leading African club competition, the top eight clubs on the final standings would receive home draws in the Coca-Cola Cup.
The seeding system pits the club finishing first (Chiefs or Pirates) against the one finishing 16th (Hellenic), second (Pirates or Chiefs) against 15th (Real Rovers) and so on down to eighth versus ninth. There was no relegation but the two clubs propping up the table, Aces and Crystal Brains, were excluded from the knockout event and the chance to score financially.
While details of the Coca-Cola Cup sponsorship will be made public only next week, a spokesman for the cold drink company hinted that the winners could pocket more than R200 000.
The competition is notorious for producing upsets with AmaZulu setting the trend in 1992 by defeating Chiefs 3-1 in the decider and Umtata Bucks (now Bush Bucks) overcame Lightbodys Santos the following year.
QwaQwa Stars pipped Hellenic in a thrilling five- goal finale to the 1994 event and last year it was the turn of Wits to maintain the tradition of shocks as they sank the Pirates by a solitary goal.