You could say the significance of the Absa Cup semifinal between Cape Town sides Santos and Ajax on Sunday is that the Mother City will be represented in the final.
That, of course, would be a no-brainer. It also does not take too analytical a mind to declare that it would be the second consecutive final featuring a Cape Town side. Ajax were losing finalists in the Telkom Cup, which was won by Silver Stars.
Santos and Ajax will take each other on at the Athlone stadium for the right to face league champions Mamelodi Sundowns in the final. Sundowns made heavy weather of beating Stars in the other semi, scraping through on penalties.
Of more significance than the place in the finals is that Cape Town seems to be where the future of the local game could be headed. Despite poor support from locals, Cape Town football has continued to lead the pack in innovation and creativity.
Cape Town is known to have some of the toughest amateur leagues and some of the most fervent supporters in the country. But sadly, the enthusiastic support of the fans is not reflected in the professional game.
To their credit, the enterprising football moguls in Cape Town, in the persons of Goolam Alie at Santos and John Comitis at Ajax, have lived by the maxim that ”if life serves you a lemon, make lemonade”.
Cape Town continues to have the most credible youth development system in the land. They hardly ever buy players from up-country, choosing rather to manufacture their own stars. It is no great wonder that South Africa’s current best footballer, Benni McCarthy, is a product of these youth systems.
Instructive in the Sundowns-Stars semifinal was that the youngest players in the ageing Sundowns team, Vuyo Mere and Dillon Sheppard (who scored the late equaliser for Sundowns), learned their most important football lessons in the Mother City — Sheppard at Ajax and Mere at the now defunct Hellenic.
Similarly, the fact that Sundowns failed to win (in open play) their fourth match in a row, proves that spending money without having a plan for a sustainable future is testament to the limitations of a mindset dominated by the power of the purse.
A short-term approach could argue that the two Cape Town sides have little to show for their ”so-called” innovation. Ajax lost horribly in that final against Stars, going down 3-0. That would be ignoring that the final had been reached at the expense of beating Sundowns, a feat they were to repeat twice in the league.
Ajax, with Franklin Cale, Terror Fanteni and Mkhanyiseli Siwahla backed by the highly experienced Hans Vonk in goal, are a study in how to harness local talent while leveraging the benefits of a globalising world.
Their birth, as a result of the merger between Cape Town Spurs and Seven Stars, remains one of the local game’s most creative and business savvy projects since the formation of Kaizer Chiefs in 1970.
They probably have a greater failure rate than any other club in trying to translate their vision into practice. They have unsuccessfully tried to implement the ”Ajax method” here and were almost relegated under Gordon Igesund.
Such is the nature of innovators that they will fail more times than they will succeed. But once they get it right, the whole world takes notice. Coach Muhsin Ertugral seems to be taking the club in the direction its founders had in mind. Their second final in Ertugral’s first year may be just the thing to reassure Comitis that his vision is certain to be rewarded sooner rather than later.
As with Ajax, Santos have used the lively amateur scene to their advantage.
They remain deeply rooted in its community. Their nickname, ”The People’s Team”, is more than a catchphrase. They arrived at this stage of the tournament by defeating Benoni Premier United 1-0 through another home-bred boy, Elezear Rogers’s goal.
Their top goal-scorer, Erwin Isaacs, is a product of those tough terrains away from the beach houses and luxuries of Cape Town. The likes of Musa Oieno and Sebastian Bax bring to the table institutional knowledge that allows the flair and creativity of Thando Mngomeni and Thembile Kanono to flourish.
Ajax should start as slight favourites. They are within striking range of a spot in next year’s African Champions League. Santos have all but given up hope of making the top eight standings and the Absa Cup is the last hope for some respectability.
Given the above, there is frankly not much to choose from between the two sides, especially as this is a cup tie. But whichever way it goes, Cape Town should be proud of itself. If only the fans could appreciate their teams.