It is now 25 years since Moroka Swallows got the better of Kaizer Chiefs in an official Cup encounter.
Judging by the manner in which they surrendered the initiative after little more than 20 minutes of the MTN8 first-leg semifinal at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, which ended in a 2-0 defeat, it could be another 25 years before the Birds achieve this again.
Proclaiming an intention to return to the glory days of the 1980s when Swallows held their own with any team in the land under charismatic Chilean-born coach Mario Tuani, the Birds management put into place almost everything required for the ambitious exercise before the start of the season — except the most important item to transform the dream into reality.
They forgot to strengthen their squad with suitably talented players, and consequently seasoned new Brazilian coach Julio Cesar Leal has limited material with which to implement his plans.
And the bitter irony of the Birds’ misguided planning to regain glory is that with two of their most valuable players missing — top Premier Soccer League goal scorer James Chamangwa and Bafana Bafana defender Becan Fransman — Swallows now appear weaker than they were last season.
In front of an appreciative, raucous 20 000-strong crowd dominated by Chiefs supporters and facing opponents who appeared well-oiled and composed following a strenuous, but effective pre-season warm-up programme, the Birds came plummeting back to earth.
It was canny Venezuelan international striker Jose Torrealba who engineered Swallows’ downfall with a deft back-pass in the ninth minute, which enabled the in-form Gert Schalkwyk to open the score — and then pounce like a stealthy jackdaw to make the score 2-0 himself in the 21st minute following a corner.
Swallows did not seriously test Chiefs goalkeeper Emille Baron at all after a couple of threatening sorties in the opening 20 minutes, and Amakhosi diligently followed coach Muhsin Ertugral’s directions to ”keep play tight in the second half and not concede a home goal before next weekend’s second-leg tie in Rustenburg”.
And, in truth, had Chiefs adopted a more adventurous approach after half-time, they might well have ended up with more than a two-goal advantage to their credit. — Sapa