Jomo Cosmos re-affirmed a South African football myth when they beat SuperSport United 4-1 on penalties to bag themselves the lucrative Coca-Cola Cup at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday.
Having beaten giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates en route to lifting the trophy, Cosmos proved a tad too strong over their opponents in the penalty shoot-out.
The hero of the day was Cosmos goalkeeper Avril Phadi who saved two penalties from Ricardo Katza and Abram Raselemane.
Phadi, who has just been recalled to Ted Dumitru’s provisional national squad, proved the difference in a game that had little to be spoken off as one of the classic finals.
It was a deserved victory for Cosmos as they dominated territorially and in the possession stakes but it was their failure to finish off that could have turned the game into a nightmare.
Cosmos were also given a helping hand by the absence of United’s playmaker Jabu Pule, who was not considered for the encounter after missing training during the course of the week.
At the same time Cosmos, even though not impressive on the day, also dispelled their opposition’s tag of cup specialists.
United will feel hard done by as they lost in the final of the same competition to Kaizer Chiefs while Cosmos will be beaming at recapturing a title they last won three years ago.
This game was one of four halves of which three were as dead as the political icon the stadium is named after.
Cosmos, though, in those sleep-inducing 135 minutes of football, missed an avalanche of opportunities as they contrived to lose a match they should have wrapped-up in the mandatory 90 minutes.
The spark came in the dying moments of extra time as Teboho Mokoena calmly slotted passed an advancing Calvin Marlin to give Cosmos the lead and what all thought was the clincher.
In the midst of the excitement and illusions of grandeur that they had banked the biggest purse in continental football cup competition, Cosmos were punished.
SuperSport United substitute Mandla Zwane latched onto a failed clearance and headed the ball into an open net leaving both teams locked at 1-1 after extra time. – Sapa