A bemused and bewildered Orlando Pirates were all at sea as record R190-million signing Darren Bent ran riot and virtually assured a 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur victory after 22 minutes of a one-sided Vodacom Challenge final at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.
The swarthy, no-nonsense acquisition from Charlton Athletic, who towered over a timid Pirates defence like a heavyweight boxer imposing his will on a middleweight, opened the score with a thunderous volley in the 10th minute, engineered Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov’s close-range goal in the 17th minute and almost casually made the score 3-0 with his second goal in the 22nd minute.
The rest of the game on a sun-soaked but somewhat chilly winter afternoon was little more than an exhibition match as Pirates huffed and puffed in vain, but they lacked composure and fluffed their chances on the few occasions they threatened to score — with England goalkeeper Paul Robinson only seriously troubled once in the North London club’s goal throughout the 90 minutes.
Spurs are only the second team after Manchester United last year from outside Africa to have participated in this pre-season event and, in the process, took the tournament’s trophy to Europe for the first time.
Spurs completed the objective of manager Martin Jol to emulate the club’s 1962 ”Invincibles” by winning all three games on a tour of South Africa — while also burying the ghost of a defeat against Pirates in a friendly fixture in Durban four seasons ago.
Wholesale changes by both teams in the second period tended to emphasise further that the proceedings had degenerated into little more than a practice outing as the 20 000-strong crowd dwindled progressively in size before the final whistle — only the cacophony emanating from the myriad vuvuzelas proved that the entire proceedings had not gone to sleep.
And, as an advertisement of the calibre of South African soccer, the less said about Pirates’ performance, the better.
”Thanks for the wonderful hospitality,” said Spurs manager Jol afterwards — without diplomatically mentioning the hospitality that was handed out on the field by both Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. — Sapa