Rarely in soccer do two clubs with such totally different styles of play meet in the final of a major knockout cup as they do in Sunday’s culmination of the inaugural South African Airways Super 8 competition. Jomo Cosmos prefer to play defensively, while attack is the order of the day for the Moroka Swallows players.
These two clubs may not be the most glamorous in the local game, but one will be the first to have its name engraved on the trophy — and to bank R1,2-million.
The resurgent Swallows — whose trophy cabinet has been empty since 1991 —will have to overcome a Cosmos side that have acquired a reputation as cup specialists in the past few seasons. The Dube Birds are flying high after thrashing last year’s league runners-up, Supersport United, 3-0 last weekend.
Coach Gavin Hunt admits: ‘The Super 8 final is a big game for Swallows, especially because of the cup drought.†The Dube Birds’s coach did not want to talk much about tactics, but said his team would go out to the Kings Park stadium to play good football against Cosmos on Sunday.
Swallows will need to improve their defending against Cosmos, who have some of the deadliest strikers in the league in Manuel ‘Tico Tico†Bucuane and his partner in crime, Russell Mwafulirwa.
Jomo Cosmos go into the final with a defeat on their minds after losing 2-1 to Ajax Cape Town to end their unbeaten run in the league. Cosmos can thank their lucky stars that they have a coach of the calibre of Jomo Sono, who is able to motivate players and is a great reader of the game of football.Â
Cosmos will look once again to Bucuane, who is among the the top goal scorers and who led his team to the final after scoring the decisive goal against Dynamos in the semifinal, to give the team another trophy after they won the Coca-Cola Cup last season.
But his attempt to win this competition’s top goal-scorer award will be made more difficult by Swallows goalkeeper Greg Etafia, who has been making some great saves.
The Swallows players will play at Kings Park stadium as if their lives depend on it, knowing that they will be receiving incentives from their club if they manage to take home the trophy.
The Birds have an array of good ball players, who, when on song, can provide those defence-splitting passes to strikers Dennis Lota and Kerryn Jordan. But the two front men are not the only ones who can score — there are also midfielders such as Edzai Kasinauyo and Peter Rabolele who are not goal shy.
If they can overcome a resolute Cosmos defence, the Birds will be winging it back to Johannesburg with the trophy on Sunday night.