Saturday | November 23, 2024
Delano Abraham’s 2nd goal delivered Magesi Football Club the Carling Knockout Cup against formidable Mamelodi Sundowns FC at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.
Magesi made history by becoming the first newly promoted club to win a cup at the apex level in South Africa. And to think that they came from behind against the 2016 Confederation of African Football and seven domestic league champions in a row makes the victory even tastier.
Iqraam Rayners opened the scoring in the 36th minute from a Ribeiro pinpoint pass to give Sundowns 1-0 lead. They tried to push for a second before half time but Magesi goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze was having none of it.
Just fresh from the break, Tshepo Kakora equalised for Magesi in the 48th minute. And from then onwards it became a cup final that everybody wished for.
Although Sundowns dominated ball possession as usual, Magesi went 2-1 ahead through an Abrahams strike from a cornerback flick in the 87th minute of the game.That second goal proved enough to snatch the victory for the underdogs from Limpopo Province, the rookies in the premiership.
Clinton Larsen, the Magesi FC coach said in a post match interview that the cup victory is like a “fairytale”. Even though he admitted that he didn’t have the most talented team, he was proud and happy for the players to have pulled one of the toughest challenges off.
His rival on the opposite bench, Manqoba Mngqithi, bemoaned the countless chances in front of the coach. He praised Chipezeze for his heroics in goal but he felt let down by poor defending against Magesi’s set pieces and/or corner kicks.
Larsen stressed that their strategy was jot to concede a goal before halftime and was disappointed to let one in.
But he didn’t continue lauding the players of which he said some were rejected by many clubs.
Even though Mngqithi felt they deserved to win, Larsen acknowledged that they overcame the best team in the country.
There it is, Magesi Football Club are the current Carling Knockout Cup kings for the 2024/2025 season in the Premier Soccer League in South Africa.