Another weekend of Coca-Cola Cup clashes is expected to provide soccer supporters with top action. The 16 premier league clubs that began the tournament a few weeks ago have been reduced to eight, fighting it out for the R2-million at stake and a chance to take part in one of the continental cup competitions.
Kaizer Chiefs continue their defence of the trophy against Dynamos at the FNB Stadium on Saturday. Many fans will descend on Soccer City either to witness the biggest upset in soccer or an avalanche of goals against a side whom Chiefs thrashed 4-1 in the league earlier in the season.
Keeping the cup might prove a mammoth task for Chiefs, as they have failed to convince in recent league matches. Last weekend, when they drew 2-2 with Golden Arrows, they avoided defeat only thanks to goals from Collins Mbesuma.
Chiefs’ defence — and especially goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez — has been suspect. The gold and black team will have to get their act together and stop depending so much on Mbesuma to rescue them.
The young Zambian, who has scored only once so far in this tournament, will be looking to repeat his league hat-trick against Dynamos if he wants to finish as top goal scorer of the tournament.
Chiefs might not be performing well in the league but they are cup specialists and would love to win this tournament for the third time and keep the trophy for good.
With the gulf in skills and resources between the sides, though, Dynamos coach Lifa Gqosha — a former Chiefs player — will have to wait a bit longer to pull off one of the greatest upsets in soccer. Not only do they have to face a determined Chiefs side on the field, they have to overcome the intimidating presence of Chiefs supporters in the stands.
The next day the Coke Cup moves to Pretoria and Rustenburg. At Loftus, Supersport United will be looking to make their second quarterfinal of this competition. The stumbling block to this dream are previous trophy winners Jomo Cosmos.
Cosmos cannot be taken lightly despite their poor recent form — they lie bottom of the league table. A week ago, United and Cosmos played to a 1-1 draw in the league, but on Sunday there must be a winner, even if it takes a penalty shoot-out.
The last time these two teams met in a cup competition, coincidentally, was in the 2001 quarterfinal of the Coke Cup, which Cosmos won 5-1.
Supersport are out for revenge and there are several factors in their favour. The instigator of that drubbing, Nkosinathi Nhleko, with four goals, is not at Cosmos any more and ‘Tico Tico†Bucaune, who scored the fifth goal, is now with Supersport United. The United players have since become mentally stronger with great individual development since participating in the African Champions League. But under-estimating Cosmos could be costly.
Also on Sunday, another Pretoria team, Sundowns, play Wits University at the Olympia Park stadium in Rustenburg. Both Sundowns and Wits will be hoping to restore their pride after suffering defeats in the last weekend’s games. Sundowns went down 2-1 to Pirates, while Wits lost 1-0 to Moroka Swallows.
The absence of Peter Ndlovu from Sundowns strike force should not give Wits defenders a sense of security as there are several other capable players in the Brazilians team who can score goals.
Patrice Motsepe’s side can approach the game with some confidence as the last time these two sides met in this competition, in 2001, Sundowns beat the students 2-0 in the last 16.
The result of the first quarterfinal, Thursday night’s clash between Black Leopards and Moroka Swallows, was unavailable at the time of going to press.
By the end of the weekend, only four teams will be left with a chance of winning R2-million and adding to the players’ Christmas bonuses.