The excitement of the Absa Cup starts this weekend, and the boys will be separated from the men as they try to reach the quarterfinals.
For the lower-division teams, it will be do or die against the Premier Soccer League teams. It seems the lower-division teams have reached the end of the road unless they plan to surprise their opposition, as Silver Stars did in 2003.
Northern Cape Vodacom league team Cemforce play Santos, who in the first round rooted out another Vodacom team, Beaufort West, 6-0.
Despite Santos staring relegation from the league in the face, they are made of sterner stuff and they would like to win the Absa Cup for the second time since taking it in 2003, its inaugural year.
The team that is most likely to cause an upset is People’s Bank Spurs. They play Bush Bucks, who are showing signs of cracking under the immense pressure of having to avoid relegation, as they are at the bottom of the league table.
Such is Bucks’ precarious position that their coach, Bruce Grobbelaar, resigned on Wednesday after a meeting with the team’s management. Bucks go to Van Riebeeck Stadium in Witbank without a coach and under pressure to win their last nine league games.
This will result in the Eastern Cape team having to decide between continuing their run in the tournament and losing to a lower-division team to concentrate all their efforts on the league.
They should look at last year’s finalists Manning Rangers, who also faced relegation but avoided it by using the Absa Cup to keep their winning momentum.
Tornado and Dangerous Darkies face stronger opposition in Supersport United and Dynamos respectively. United are hungry for another cup after winning the Super 8 Cup early in the season, while Dynamos seem to be the dark horses of this tournament.
Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, neither of whom have lifted the Absa Cup or reached the finals, are up against Wits University and Black Leopards respectively.
No match involving Kaizer Chiefs and Wits University can avoid the rivalry of the past cup competitions. On Sunday, the focus will be on reaching the quarterfinals of this tournament for both teams, and recent cup games between the two favours Chiefs.
Orlando Pirates play Black Leopards at the Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Saturday night.
Pirates, also now known as Happy People, boast a squad of lavish depth and quality that has propelled them to the top of the premiership table. The Buccaneers would like to shed the tag of not lasting long in cup competitions.
The absence of their captain, Edelbert Dinha, will not hinder their progress in this competition, as they have an array of gifted players in every position. Coach Kostadin Papic would like his team to become more consistent as the league draws to a close, and would not want to lose momentum after his team suffered a defeat against Bloemfontein Celtic and went on to a 3-1 victory against Dynamos last week.
Moroka Swallows, the defending champions of the tournament, were the first to qualify for the quarterfinals after they beat Manning Rangers 4-2 in a penalty shootout.