One can understand why Bloemfontein was originally a popular choice for the Absa Cup final before Durban finally won the right to host the South African football season-ender.
And the reason was not just because it is the most central city in the country and best bet for the teams — Ajax Cape Town coming from the southern-most tip of the country and Mamelodi Sundowns originating from what used to be called the Northern Transvaal, even though Pretoria is not that northwards.
It was in the City of Roses that the two sides recorded two of the most memorable moments of the 2006/07 football season. They managed to silence the effervescent Bloemfontein Celtic.
First it was Sundowns. On February 21, at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Rocklands, General Gordon Igesund’s marauding yellow army invaded what was the almost impenetrable fortress of the Celtic home ground.
”Almost” being operative, because Supersport United had, before that, been the only other side to have found that Celtic’s armour did not cover their heels, exposing their susceptibility to fast, counter-attacking football.
Sundowns seemed unaware that they were playing away. Unlike their Pretoria neighbours, they took Celtic on, thoroughly outclassed them and left Bloemfontein as 3-1 victors. More importantly, Celtic fans, known for their incessant singing and cajoling of their heroes, realised that losing really does hurt. The stereotype of the natives who sing when they are happy and when they are sad could not be sustained.
Ajax arrived at the same venue for the quarterfinals. Though they came a week after Moroka Swallows had seriously undermined the notion that it was virtually impossible to beat Celtic in Bloemfontein, they were to go a step further than any of the sides that had emerged triumphant in the city.
Their 1-0 win over Siwelele caused Celtic fans not only to lower their voices, but also to boo their side at the end of the match.
Worse still, Celtic’s relative success had been built on the knowledge that their fans supported the coach and trusted his judgement (as opposed to fans of other teams who deem it their right and duty to advise the coach on tactical changes).
But the defeat to Ajax saw the end of coach Tony de Nobrega’s tenure, amid talk that fans had predicted he might be visited by misfortune if he did not quit. It appears they made a compelling enough case to make De Nobrega seek alternative employment.
The only psychological warfare that the coaches, Igesund for Sundowns and Muhsin Ertugral for Ajax, would need to wage, is around the fact that Ajax have won all three of the teams’ encounters this season.
For Sundowns the need to get the Ajax monkey off their backs may just as easily work for them as it could against them. Over-enthusiasm has a tendency to cause participants to be ruled by testosterone when level heads could yield better results.
Sundowns seem to have lost their hunger to win against home opposition — their 2-1 victory over Orlando Pirates being the exception in their past five matches in which they had scored only once — against Ajax in a 2-1 defeat.
Before once again administering their habitual whipping of Pirates, Sundowns had last tasted victory on March 11, when Peter Ndlovu scored in the last minute to enable them to emerge 2-1 victors and, importantly, clinch the league title. This could explain the unwillingness of the players to martyr themselves for a cause that had already been won.
Ajax have no such hang-ups. Having never been contenders for the title, Ertugral’s mandate has been to create a team that would, in the near future, shake up the establishment.
That future seems to have arrived sooner than anticipated. Until the last three league fixtures, they were in contention for the Champions League. They were the losing finalists in the Telkom Cup. Now they have what no other team has had this season: the great Mamelodi Sundowns desperate for a win against them.
Just like his counterpart at Sundowns, Ertugral has to ensure that his young side remembers that nothing in football is as fleeting as glory. There are no medals for beating a side so many times. League championship medals are for winning consistently, but for a cup final gong, it is all or nothing.
Both teams have reason to be hungry for victory. Sundowns cannot countenance a scenario in which they would have succumbed to the same side four times in one season. Ajax’s hunger is the traditional type. Without a sponsor, and with their players seeking a name for themselves, what could be better than outshining the star-spangled banner that is the Pretoria outfit.
Blessed therefore will be those who hunger and thirst for this trophy the most, for they truly shall be satisfied.