SA clubs venture out into African competition again

South Africa’s quest to conquer African football has seldom materialised into a sustained challenge.

Successes in Confederation of African Football (CAF) club competitions have been few and far between in the decade since the country was readmitted to the international fold. 

Orlando Pirates’ victory in the African Champions Cup (the precursor to the champions’ league) in 1995 proved a bit of a false dawn. Since then Kaizer Chiefs won the Cup of Cup Winners (the Mandela Cup) in 2000 and Sundowns lost to Al Ahly in the champion’s league final in 2001. Besides that, there’s not been much to celebrate.

This weekend local teams once again venture in seach of continental honours. Current Premier Soccer League champions Santos take on Simba, from Tanzania, in the first round of the champions league at Athlone stadium on Sunday. 

The Cape club have little experience in Africa, with their only previous foray being in the Mandela Cup last year, where they beat a Mozambican team before being eliminated in the second round by Asante Kotoko of Ghana.

Santos coach Boebie Solomons says the problem they have when playing in Africa is that they do not know the teams they will be playing against.  He says: ‘We will prepare for this game as if we will be playing [African champions] Zamalek.

‘It is difficult to play in Africa as there are a lot of factors to contend with, for example, bad refereeing and the cost of travel.”

It will cost Santos, a team without a sponsor, R300 000 to play their first round matches in the champions’ league. But the carrot exists: if they go further than the first round, they will be able to recoup their expenses and more in the group stages, where the real money begins.

The winner of the champions’ league walks away with a cheque for $1-million. Solomons says the cup competition will give his players

exposure to African football. 

Sundowns are in the CAF Cup, a competition that has eluded all South African clubs so far. Ajax Cape Town were knocked out in the second round of the cup in 2001. Sundowns have experience in African football so this will not hinder their advancement in the competition. The Pretoria team plays Primero de Agosto in Angola on Saturday. 

Jomo Cosmos will represent South Africa in the Cup of Cup Winners

after Kaizer Chiefs refused to defend the cup they won in 2001. The reason given by the glamour club is that the competition had no prize money and was expensive owing to the high travelling expenses. 

Cosmos played their first round game in the cup against Lesotho

Defence Force a month ago in Tembisa, winning 5-1.

Top striker Tico Tico Bucuane scored a hat-trick in that game and will be expected to perform well against his hometown team of Costa de Sol on Saturday in Mozambique.

Already the Cosmos striker has four goals to his name in this tournament. The last time Cosmos played in this competition they reached the semifinals in 1993. 

 Team manager Kwezi Masondo said, ‘We want the cup to remain in South Africa.”  Masonda said the Mozambiquean team was a closed book to them, but that their coach Jomo Sono could read a game quickly and then let the players adapt. 

The Cosmos team manager said, ‘We will be going there for a win and our ambition is to win this cup this time round.”