It is the final stretch of the Carling Knockout Cup this Saturday featuring the brave giant-beaters Magesi FC up against the customary cup-campaigners Mamelodi Sundowns FC in Free State.
Saturday | November 23, 2024
The Carling Knockout Cup final featuring Magesi Football Club and Mamelodi Sundowns FC comes to a head at the legendary Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein today, Nov. 23 at 18h00.
Magesi are new in the uber-flight football in the Premier Soccer League (PSL). Swelking with pride and confidence, they are all coming face-to face with the South Africa’s (SA) might of mesmerising ball possession game – Mamelodi Sundowns.
While for Sundowns, this will be one of the cup final games to honour, they are the favourites based on their cup-pedigree and stature.
On the other hand, Magesi have surprised many to reach the final of a cup competition in their first season at this level. The reverberating flagrant question is: will they go all the way and triumph over Sundowns?
While that thoughtful ask stands, team coach Clinton Larsen acknowledged the might that his players will encounter this evening. He even stopped short of writing Magesi off by overstating Sundowns’ colossal strength by jokingly saying playing them is more like playing the SA national team.
This hyperbolic mindgame is understandable because the Pretorians constitute more than 50% of SA’s first-team players of late.
But today it is a different fixture of a cup-competition where any outfit can emerge victorious on a good day at the park.
For their part, Magesi’s journey to the final was not a fluke. They dealt a blow to Orlando Pirates FC, one of the oldest and biggest clubs in the PSL, in their first game of the Carling Knockout. From there onwards, they outplayed TS Galaxy FC on penalties and reached the final at the expense of Richards Bay FC.
Their chief rival tonight, Sundowns, blew Golden Arrows FC and Kaizer Chiefs FC to smitherings as well as Marumo Gallants FC to book their place in the ultimate final.
Given the reputation that Sundowns have and the manner in which Magesi managed to get this far, there is so much anticipation of this uneven square up.
A lot is made about how will Magesi stop the all-firing and star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns team in full a 90-minute game? And if the match ends in a stalemate, will the minnows have enough energy to electrify them until the bitter end?
Of course, Sundowns can not afford to look down on their opponents based on their low status and light history. They know too well that they are in a final with a PSL club worth to be in contention for the trophy. For that reason, it will be an eleven in the stadium going toe-to-toe with another eleven in the opposite end.
As crucial as it has ever been, the stakes are at their peak. All the commentary and psychological monouvres have run their course. It is now time and up to the team that is hungry the most to clinch this 2024/2025 edition of the Carling Knockout Cup.