The past few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for the 16 Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams being voted to play in the Telkom Charity Cup. Voting ended on Monday, with league champions Orlando Pirates absent from the final four teams.
This will be the first time one of the Soweto glamour clubs has not made it to the Charity Cup since its inception 19 years ago. The four teams selected for this year’s event are defending champions Kaizer Chiefs (also known as ‘The Glamour Boysâ€), Sundowns, Black Leopards and last season’s newcomers Dynamos.Â
This week Sundowns and Leopards pleaded for support and believe they will be able to put bums on seats. As Sundowns public relations officer Alex Shakoane put it: ‘We are back where we belong at number one, after getting the highest number of votes.â€
Sundowns’ new coach Oscar Fullone has indicated that he would like to win something this season and the Charity Cup is the first trophy on the cards. The team will be looking to prove once and for all that they are not in decline, as last year they didn’t garner enough votes to play for the Cup.
Leopards reached the final last year and will be hoping to go one better. They play Sundowns in the first game at First National Bank Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday at 9am. The off-season saw both teams acquire new ammunition, with Leopards signing Kelvin Mushangazhike and Justice Sithole from Chiefs, while Sundowns acquired illustrious midfielder Clement Mazibuko and the safe hands of goalkeeper André Arendse.
In the second game Kaizer Chiefs will take on Dynamos. Apparently Dynamos’ office telephone was temporarily blocked recently because of the many calls they made to lobby votes for their team. Hopefully, with their inclusion in the Cup, they will be able to pay the phone bill.
‘I had spent sleepless nights thinking about whether we had made it to the Charity Cup and am glad that we did,†said the club’s owner, Pat Malabela. ‘People should expect entertaining football.†The Dynamos are well-motivated to play one of the country’s glamour teams.Â
Some of the players, such as mid-fielders Josias Macamo and Joel Seroba (who almost joined the Amakhosi) are out to prove to Chiefs that they are good players who should have been kept on rather than transferred to the rookie team.Â
The Glamour Boys have had no rest since last season, having participated in the Vodacom Challenge (which they won), the Peace Cup in Korea (where they gained international experience) and the 2010 bid match against Tottenham Spurs this week (which they lost 2-0).Â
Coach Ted Dumitru will be under pressure to continue what he started when the team took the last kudu horn. But PSL CEO Trevor Philips has warned that ‘South African soccer is changing and becoming more unpredictableâ€.
And chair of the Telkom Charity Trust Leepile Taunyane says: ‘The mood among the teams has changed from them being first to charity being first.†Winners of the cup will receive R400 000, runners-up R200 000 and semifinalists R100 000 each.