South African soccer supporters need not fear that they will be without football when the World Cup ends on Sunday. The Vodacom Cup challenge — showcasing four of Africa’s great clubs — begins next week.
The participating clubs are Soweto giants Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, who take on FC St Eloi-Lupopo from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Asante Kotoko of Ghana.
Asante Kotoko, nine-times Ghanaian league champions, are no strangers to this competition. Last year they beat Pirates in the semifinal round to advance to the final, where they lost to Chiefs after a penalty shootout.
Revenge will be in the minds of the West Africans when they meet Kaizer Chiefs in the second semifinal in Mmabatho, Mafikeng on July 7. For Chiefs the game will be one of the hurdles they will have to pass if they are to win the cup for the third time and keep the kudu horn trophy for good.
No team from outside South Africa has yet won the tournament. In its first year of inception Pirates won, but since then they have had no success. Pirates did not have a good season last year and will be looking to improve things this year, but first they will have to beat FC St Eloi-Lupopo at 12.30pm in Mafikeng.
The Congolese are an unknown quantity and will be looking to steal the limelight from the three African glamour clubs in the competition.
Pirates and Chiefs will use this tournament to showcase their new signings as well as their upcoming development players. Both teams have already begun their pre-season training and this cup presents them with a great opportunity to see how ready they are for the new premier soccer league (PSL) season.
This year’s challenge — which has a theme each year — will focus on Aids awareness. The Cup final will once again be played in Durban at King’s Park on July 14.
” The Telkom Charity Cup was launched this week. Voting has started for the four teams from the 18 in the PSL who will be in the July 27 tournament. Callers cannot use cellphones or the Internet to vote for their teams.