Careers & Tenders
Subscribe
Article
/ 8 August 2003

Top teams to tough it out

By

There is no tournament quite like the SAA Super Eight Cup, which awards the winning club a cool R1,2-million after just three games. This weekend will see the top eight clubs in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) battle it out to walk away with the cheque.

The first teams to lock horns in the Super Eight will be Coca-Cola champions Jomo Cosmos against league champions Orlando Pirates on Saturday at the Rand stadium.

Pirates go into this game with the advantage of having played in a number of pre-season tournaments, but they will be without their captain Mbulelo Mabizela, who is in England with Tottenham Hotspurs — the club they recently beat 2-1. Pirates’ prolific striker Lesley Manyathela could miss out on the game if he doesn’t arrive from Lyon on time. Meanwhile, youngster Gift Leremi, who recently received the Rookie of the Year Award, will have to prove that he deserves it after spending most of last season on the bench.

Jomo Cosmos may not have played many pre-season competitions, but the team’s coach, Jomo Sono, is known to have unearthed many talented players within and outside the borders of the country. The Super Eight will give his new players a chance to show what they are made of. And the Coca-Cola champions will be counting on their illustrious striker, Tico Tico Bucuane.

In another quarterfinal match in the Super Eight on Sunday, at the Harry Oppenheimer stadium in Orkney, Kaizer Chiefs will take on Wits, also known as the ‘Clever Boys”. Chiefs are a formidable side when it comes to cup games — with both the Vodacom Challenge and Charity Cup trophies to their credit — and have shown in the off-season that they are out to contest any soccer titles up for grabs, with their sights ultimately set on the elusive PSL title.

Wits coach Roger de Sa was cautious when pressed for his view of his team’s chances.

‘We hope to go further than the quarterfinals but must accept that Chiefs are a better team than they were last season,” he said. He hopes his side will get into the game quickly and at least make it through the first round of the tournament.