Saturday’s Absa Cup final is as much a battle royal between two of the country’s premier clubs — Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs — as it is a turf war for power in South African football.
There is a feeling that Pirates, like Sean Connery’s opponent in The Untouchables (who he accuses of ”bringing a knife to a gun battle”), are taking serious chances considering how inexperienced stand-in coach Teboho Moloi is when compared to the astute Ernest Middendorp.
Moloi leads a team that has been struggling to get results when it matters most and, without the beleaguered Benedict Vilakazi, has no leader. Matches between the two clubs are not so much about coaches, however, as about the players.
Chiefs have David Obua, whose individual brilliance in the past two league encounters turned the matches in their favour. The Ugandan is a versatile player who readily adapts to different roles.
Pirates will look to Jabu Mahlangu, a formidable attacking midfielder who does score goals. There is no better stage on which to repay the faith his new boss Irvin Khoza has shown in him after the much-publicised indiscretions that forced him to leave Supersport United after only five months.
Khoza not only paid for Mahlangu’s rehabilitation and the recent family ritual that included the change of his surname, but has given him support structures in the form of personal security and continual surveillance.
The problem is that Mahlangu does not seem to have settled yet, and in the company of several players with a similar style, such as Lebohang Mokoena and Joseph Makhanya, it will be interesting to see what role Moloi might assign him.
Pundits might point out that when Pirates last beat Chiefs in a final, 18 years ago, they also had a relatively inexperienced team. Bashin Mahlangu, Dan Malesela and Lawrence Maake were starting out in their professional careers, while Chiefs had experience in abundance in Gary Bailey, Neil Tovey, Scara Thindwa and Mike Mangena.
But this encounter is also about the power politics of local football. Chiefs chairperson Kaizer Motaung is incensed by the decision by the Premier Soccer League to take the game to Kings Park in Durban. The reasons for his displeasure are varied and include that Kings Park has a much smaller capacity than Johannesburg’s FNB stadium, where big finals have traditionally been played.
Motaung knows Absa would prefer not to risk marketing mileage by taking a final that has high public interest and maximum television exposure to a rival sponsor’s venue, but the sponsors do not make the decision.
The Chiefs boss is indirectly telling league CE Trevor Phillips that he is aware that Khoza put pressure on the cup committee and the league not to take the final to Nasrec because Pirates feel that the venue has been jinxed by Chiefs.
There is a simmering war between the two that, in essence, was started by Motaung. Khoza is still very bitter in the way his defender, Jimmy Tau, left the club after he was clandestinely approached and signed by Chiefs.
It is no surprise, then, that as a tit-for-tat measure Siyabonga Nomvete and Mahlangu are now donning the black and white jersey. Mahlangu is a product of Chiefs’ development programme and Nomvete publicly stated that his heart was with his former club.
There is talk already that Gert Schalkwyk, whose contract ends with the current season, may be heading to Pirates. Khoza is understood to have offered the attacking midfielder a package it would be difficult to turn down.
Watch closely the development around Collins Mbesuma, the prolific former Chiefs striker, who was recently sacked for non-performance by English club Portsmouth. He, too, might head to Pirates instead of rejoining his old team.
A Chiefs-Pirates match is always a glamorous and premier clash supposed to be played at a glamorous venue. Kings Park might not quite have the requisite glamour, but the football should be able to surpass the surroundings.
Pirates last won silverware three seasons ago with the championship. They last won a final in 2000. Their fans, who Khoza claims are increasingly attending matches again, need to have their faith justified and this is the stage for the side to do just that.
Khoza spends a lot of his time creating a powerful fortress around himself, sometimes forgetting that the fans just want on-field success.
Since Motaung no longer enjoys his former powerful position in South African football, he has focused his attention on making Chiefs the most powerful brand in the country. This is one match that may mean more to the two club bosses than to the fans.