Cape Town - Little separated Steve Komphela and Pitso Mosimane when the Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns coaches addressed the media on Tuesday ahead of this evening’s Telkom Knockout final at Moses Mabhida Stadium (kickoff 6pm).
For a change, Mosimane copied his counterpart, dressed in jeans and a jacket. Both coaches also arrived at the conference late following a delayed flight. That they expressed similar sentiments about the match preparations and shared each others’ feelings about managing big clubs was not surprising.
The battle on the field will be just as close come kickoff. More than three weeks of preparation and super-analysis will be applied, but it will probably come down to one spark of brilliance to clinch victory.
Managing the recent interruption to the football calendar, due to the national Under-23 team’s participation in the Nations Cup in Senegal, wasn’t easy, claimed Mosimane.
The team that is more “switched on” after the lengthy break could deliver the knockout blow. Match sharpness is something that a training-ground friendly can’t provide for a player, added Mosimane, who will have attacking midfielder Keagan Dolly back after he captained the SA U23s to qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics last weekend.
Neither club coach is hindered by player suspensions, but Sundowns midfielder Themba Zwane and defender Ramahlwe Mphahlele are working their way back from injury, as are Chiefs striker David Zulu and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.
“Rama (Mphahlele) is the captain, so we’ll give him a chance to recover. Themba has been training and it looks like he’s okay,” said Mosimane.
“If Rama is out, we have Siyanda Zwane, (Asavela) Shoes Mbekile and also Rheece Evans. We can’t complain about any injuries; we have a big squad, enough players to fill in.”
Man-management will play a key role, too. For a player like Dolly, who will feature in his first cup final, there could be “butterflies”, while for others such as his Chiefs counterpart Siphiwe Tshabalala, it will be a case of drawing on the experience of past finals and big occasions such as the Fifa World Cup to deliver on the day, reasoned Mosimane.
Dolly was flown in from Senegal by Sundowns on an earlier flight than the rest of the U23 squad so that he could be ready for this tie. As a form player, he will lead the attack which will be fronted by Cuthbert Malajila, Leonardo Castro and Khama Billiat. Dolly’s sharpness could prove decisive against Chiefs without first-choice ‘keeper Khune, and possibly also missing defender Eric Mathoho through injury.
For someone who lost the MTN8 final in September, Komphela was his usual verbose self as he deflected attention away from Amakhosi’s strong cup finals record against the Brazilians, and sought to shrug off the burden he bears as coach of the country’s best-supported club.
This will be the ninth final between the clubs in the PSL era, with Chiefs victorious in the previous eight (five times on penalties).
“It’s a big match, no ordinary match, and the temperament is different. If we play on the luxury of statistics then you can tell the PSL to give the result, but it can never be that way,” said Komphela.
“We are not going to listen to Pitso about the history. We appreciate the compliment but we won’t take it too far. The minute players regard the event as an occasion they get paralysed. It’s a match where we will try to execute (the game plan) and try to simplify it as much as possible.”
He further simplified his position: “You come to these (big) clubs not seeking mercy or pity. You can win 29 games and still lose the league. Winning finals is not enough.
“But the fact remains, you have to do justice to the people who have given you the authority.”
Cape Argus