Andrew Muchineripi soccer
The evenings are chillier, the leaves are losing some of their green lustre, and darkness creeps over Gauteng just that little bit earlier. It’s African club competition time again. Being a major football power in Africa, our clubs do not have to bother with prequalifying for the annual Champions League, Cup Winners’ Cup and African Football Confedera-tion (CAF) Cup competitions. But this weekend the real struggle for supremacy kicks off with first- round, first-leg matches in the three competitions and it is not going to be plain sailing for Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs either. Sundowns host Costa do Sol of Mozambique, a technically limited but physically formidable team who literally gave SuperSport United a hard time in the Cup Winners’ Cup last year. I can vividly recall inspecting the “war wounds” inflicted on various parts of South African bodies by the burly Mozambicans, whose defenders obviously had been trained by Gavin Lane. Chiefs, now that they have sorted out the nonsense of when and where they play, face Stade Tamponnaise, a club with a proud record against South African opponents. Stade eliminated Witbank Aces from the 1994 Cup Winners Cup and Sundowns from the 1996 CAF Cup with an own goal from Sizwe Motaung (hope you are better, bru) at Odi stadium completing a miserable afternoon. Add the dramatic, come-from-behind success of Saint Louisienne over Sundowns in the 1999 Champions League and you have a fair indication of the opposition Chiefs face. CAF Cup representatives Ajax Cape Town make their African debut only next week against Ugandan visitors Kampala City Council due to four of their players being in the national squad at the African youth championship. This clash is a classic confrontation between youth and experience that is difficult to call, although the alarming slump in the fortunes of Ajax suggests they will do well to survive. But the focus of attention will, inevitably, fall on Sundowns, who came so close to reaching the Champions League final last year before being pipped on goal difference by Tunisian club Esperance. While it may have been heartbreaking to slip so close to the summit, it was a major improvement on previous Champions League (formerly Cup) campaigns by the “Brazilians”. Sundowns crashed out in the second round of the 1994 and 1999 competitions and, after exits at the same stage of the Cup Winners’ Cup and Caf Cup, must have wondered if the jinx would ever be broken. Animated French coach Paul Dolezar set Sundowns on the road to relative success last year, taking them through the two knockout rounds before quitting over a never fully explained financial problem. When Monsieur Paul said francs-a-lot and au revoir, Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof stepped in for an initially satisfactory mini-league campaign that turned sour after a 6-1 hiding from Africa Sports in Cte d’Ivoire. Now Dolezar has a chance to take the Pretoria-based club all the way and it would be a shock if Costa, who have not progressed beyond the second round in six attempts, tripped them up. Chiefs proudly claim they are among the leading clubs in Africa. This is true in every sense, except two previous ventures into continental competitions have ended in second-round exits. While it was no shame losing to eventual winners Zamalek of Egypt in the 1993 Champions Cup, a two-goal loss to modest Nchanga Rangers of Zambia in the Caf Cup last year was unacceptable. Nchanga took advantage of comical first-leg goalkeeping by Brian Baloyi at Johannesburg stadium to score twice before half-time and the Amakhosi never looked like recovering from the double blow. While most competitions get tougher as the rounds progress, Chiefs will probably find Stade a much tougher nut to crack than Mogoditshane Life Fighters of Botswana or Sunshine of Seychelles in the second round. The recipe for success in two-leg African club competitions is to win well at home without conceding any goals and to, at worst, lose by one goal away while scoring several. One believes Sundowns are capable of establishing at least a two-goal home advantage over Costa do Sol while there is no reason for Chiefs fans to expect less than a score draw on the Indian Ocean island. It really is the least South African supporters can expect as a record of one success since 1993 is far from satisfactory for a nation with such an exalted status on the continent.