ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Friday 12.30pm.
EVEN with 24 hours to go before the kick-off of the Iwisa Charity Soccer Spectacular, the real winners and losers in the annual one-day extravaganza are already known.
Ajax Cape Town (formerly Seven Stars) are the winners after accumulating a staggering 56683 votes (43580 telephonic and 13103 postal). What a total for a Cape club with a small support base.
To put these figures in perspective, Kaizer Chiefs, the club generally regarded as being the best supported in the country, received 23197 (22878 telephonic and 319 postal.)
Sundowns are the losers because they will not even be at FNB Stadium after paying the price for what this humble member of the Muchineripi clan suspects was complacency.
The Brazilians correctly believe they are among the “big three” never mind “big four” of the domestic scene after Chiefs and Orlando Pirates and, therefore, had a divine right to qualification.
It could only have added to the misery of Sundowns that they failed to qualify by 32 votes, polling 21300 compared to the 21332 of Vodacom Challenge winners Pirates.
Can you imagine the outcry if the Buccaneers had failed to make the top four. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or The Ghost without their beloved boys in the Charity Spectacular.
I am looking forward to watching Ajax and AmaZulu on Saturday as one grows tired of the same faces and, who knows, maybe the expected Chiefs-Pirates final will not materialise.
Chiefs tackle Ajax at 9.30am (is this a record early start for a soccer match in South Africa?) followed by Pirates and AmaZulu at 11.30am. The final kicks off at 4pm before an expected capacity 80000 crowd.
Read Andrew Muchineripi’s full preview: Spectacular vote victory for Ajax