MagRush | October 4, 2019
SuperSport United FC vs Highlands Park FC
The age-old MTN Top 8 Cup final will be staged at the legendary Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, Saturday 5, October evening at 18:00.
Orlando Pirates FC won the first installment of the Top 8 in 1972 at the same stadium. With Orlando hosting, certainly “Top 8” football is “coming back home,” to lift a quip from Peter Drury, the acclaimed English poetic commentator during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia; except that tomorrow night Pirates will not participate.
The MTN8 is the first cup-final of the Premier Soccer League’s 2019/2020 edition showdown. The finalists are (both) Gauteng Province based clubs and, likewise, their match will be staged in home territory. No jet lag; no need for acclimatising; no flimsy excuses for either side. Therefore, the battle lines are drawn for the provincial bragging rights.
The eventual one-winner-take-all cup will bag a whopping R8 million in prize money. Hold your breath! There is more in the “yellow” award kitty: the icing on the MTN8-cup cake will see every goal scored in the game by any player earn him a mouthwatering reward of R25, 000. So will man of the match.
The Top 8 Cup final debutants, Highlands Park, are thrilled. Getting to the final is reward enough, commented the modest Highlands Park head coach Owen Da Gama on Thursday – two days before kick off. He did not let off a sniff on his intentioned tactics and envisaged outcome of the cup-final game. Saying that currently he is building a team for the future; so, the forthcoming cup game is there for his players to gain experience.
SuperSport United’s six appearances in the Top 8 final eclipse Highlands Park far beyond comparison. They won it on two occasions – 2004 and 2017. For this reason, “Matsatsantsa a Pitori” are favourites and upbeat about lifting the honours for the 3rd time. The feeling, for that matter, is a familiar one for the Pretorians.
Nevertheless, if the recent “Lions of the North” ruthless form is any measure, they are in for the ultimate crown jewel with a roaring shout.
Highlands Park are at the zenith of the football golden prize. Even them, harbour confetti-showering dreams too.
Having downed their Tshwane archrivals (Mamelodi Sundowns FC) 3-1 on aggregate in the two-legged semi-final to reach Saturday’s crème de la crème festivities, SuperSport have been tested to the core enroute to the MTN Top 8 Cup final.
SuperSport kick-started their campaign by annihilated Bidvest Wits by a 3-0 score margin in the first game of the MTN Top 8 – the quarterfinals. Quite clearly, on a good day they are a high-scoring club by any standard with Thamsanqa Gabuza who has already netted three goals in this competition. SuperSport also boost another deadly striker, Bradley Grobler.
To fire their own volley of shots up front, with little doubt, Highlands will (heavily but not solely) rely on their prolific and dependable Namibian forward Peter Shalulile who has six PSL goals to his name.
SuperSport coach Kaitano Thembo said previously that they “are hoping to go all the way to the finals and win the trophy”. Looking at their impressive Top 8 record, “Matsatsantsa a Pitori” have a superior edge over Highlands Park.
On the other hand, the “Lions of the North” got to the final by, arguably, the skin of their teeth. They stunned Pirates 1-0 in the quarterfinals game which possibly gave them a leap of faith in going all the way to the grand finale.
However, they have no Premiership cup pedigree to hype about. Saturday could not have come at a better time to record their name for the first time ever on the annals of SA football history. What a story it would be should they nick it at the end!
The two-legged semi-final affair with Polokwane City FC was settled on penalties [4-3] after back-to-back goalless draws in both encounters.
The Lions of the North are unequivocally the underdogs of the Top 8 final. Lack of experience as a football club in tournaments of this nature, their appetite must be sharper and, undoubtedly, have to be thirsting for it more. To be fair, SuperSport United have little motivation than to keep stacking up their cup accolades.
At the end of the game though, the MTN Top 8 Cup [“Wafa Wafa – Do or Die”] champions will hoist their highly prized PSL possession aloft in full view of legions of football fans in Orlando Stadium and around the country through a multiplicity of multimedia platforms.