With finishing that bordered on the ridiculous during a dour, goalless 120 minutes of play, both teams proceeded to produce some sublime shooting as
Silver Stars edged out SuperSport United 7-6 in an extended penalty shootout in the Absa Cup quarterfinal at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on Saturday afternoon.
The game, which constituted the first on the PSL double-header bill after the clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Dynamos was switched at the 11th hour because of the unavailability of Pilditch Stadium, was like a boxing contest between two back-peddling fighters
A succession of 13 precisely-taken penalties in the shootout left respective goalkeepers Andre Arendse (SuperSport) and Takua Kapini (Stars) foiled and frustrated as they could do no more than repeatedly gather the ball out of the back of the net.
The exciting SuperSport prodigy Teko Modise’s fateful 14th kick from the spot was saved by Kapini — with the ecstatic Zimbabwean international goalkeeper doing a celebratory lap of honour round the sparsely-filled stadium.
Entry into the semifinals took the fairytale season for the recent Telkom Knockout competition winners a step further as the Cinderella club continued what has become an almost monotonous sequence of successes against the League’s more affluent clubs.
Although both teams are basically more attuned to counter-attacking and squandered glorious opportunities, a relatively more aggressive Stars tended to adapt better to the tight tempo and deserved their delayed victory.
It was only achieved after Kapini had made a breathtaking point blank save from SuperSport captain Ricardo Katza in the 115th minute.
Also in extra-time, Stars Simba Marumo missed a golden opportunity of opening the score for Stars following a defence-splitting pass from Dale Studinski — but then this was only one of numerous inviting chances that were squandered by both strikers. – Sapa