Hotto to roll with the big boys
...as Pirates reach Confederation Cup final
Deon Hotto is in line to make Namibian history if he can help Orlando Pirates win the Confederation Cup later this month and thereby become the first player from the country to win a continental club competition gold medal.
Pirates on Sunday reached the final of the second-tier continental club competition despite losing 1-0 to Al Ahli Tripoli in the home leg. ‘AmaBhakaniya’ had won the first leg 2-0 in Libya to claim the tie 2-1 on aggregate.
In so doing, the Soweto giants set up a final clash against Berkane that will be held in Nigeria later this month.
This is the first time that Caf is trying to play the finals of their continental competitions on neutral venues in a once-off game, as opposed to the two (home and away) legs of previous competitions.
The Caf Champions League final is similarly going to be played in Casablanca Morocco on May 30 with Egypt’s Al Ahly taking on Wydad AC.
History
As for Hotto, this marks the first time that a Namibian will feature in the final of such a big continental tournament.
The winger is a regular starter for Orlando Pirates and is expected to do the same when the team takes on RSB Berkane in the final. He will therefore be in line to be a continental gold medalist and join a prestigious club of players that have won such from the region.
Clubs from the region hardly feature in the final matches of African competitions, although Kaizer Chiefs managed to reach last year’s Caf Champions League, which they lost to Al Ahly.
While Pirates have won the Caf Champions League in 1995 and remains one of only two teams from South Africa to hold that honour (the other being Mamelodi Sundowns, who are 2016 champions), their qualification to the final came somewhat as a surprise as they had a patchy campaign in the domestic league.
Blowing hot and cold in the DStv Premiership they were nowhere near challenging for the title, which was comfortably won by Sundowns, this season.
Reaching the final of the Confederation Cup, though, will not be considered as an achievement by itself with only victory over ES Setif likely to satisfy the Pirates faithful.