Cult hero coach Davids asks his players to dig deep one final time for fallen United brothers

AHEAD OF a cup final, the nerves in a team are strung tighter than usual. Players often withdraw themselves into quiet corners, dreading being the guy who lets the team down. Managers fiddle over their notes, desperate to be the difference between glory and despair.

Deep in the heart of Maritzburg, the “Team of Choice” have been quietly building towards the Nedbank Cup final against Free State Stars tomorrow. It is a first final for the bulk of the squad, save for three players who have been there.

“It is a massive occasion for the club. It’s historic,” coach Fadlu Davids pointed out.

Davids, a former striker who has become quite a cult hero at Harry Gwala Stadium, has been central to the transformation from puzzlers to pursuers of top prizes. He was once celebrated as a goal-poacher for the club, but now he is lauded for his ability to turn a young team into an enterprising brand of football.

“Of course this season has been a success. We have had our best season, but we are still building. It is important for us to take opportunities like this game, because there is a huge difference between making a final and winning it,” Davids pointed out.

Maritzburg United have been down disappointment lane before this season, after their demise in the MTN8 semi-finals. Having scored away from home in the first leg against SuperSport United, too many assumed that the home leg would be a procession, and they were already dreaming of being in a final.

As sport is wont to do, they were taught a brutal lesson, and it took them weeks to shake off their anguish. Thus, United will not be making the mistake again. Indeed, they have humbled themselves, aware that this is fresh territory for them.

“We are underdogs for this final,” Davids said flatly.

“We have to be underdogs. We have never played a game of this magnitude in our history, but Free State Stars have been there before.

“It is not that I prefer to be underdogs; it is what it is.”

The underdog tag suits United and their city, a place of scrappers and hustlers. Not for them the easy road. Along the way to this august occasion, United have suffered deep heartache, losing two bright stars along the way. “It hasn’t been easy,” Davids recalled. “We have kept them in our thoughts and prayers as a team, and we know that they will be there for us on Saturday,” he said of Mlondi Dlamini, and Luyanda Ntshangase, who have both passed away over the course of an unforgettable 2017/18 campaign.

“We have to play for them too, and that is extra motivation. Winning would be a great way to finish off this season, and then kick on from there,” Davids added.

Kicking on will depend a lot on which players are retained, but Davids said he and the club management had already spoken to a clutch of youngsters whose skills have become flames to the moths that do the dirty work of serenading for big clubs.

“We want to keep this group together, and the encouraging thing is that none of our youngsters want to go to the so-called ‘Big Three’ and sit on the bench. If they get overseas offers, we will not stand in their way, but they all want to play their local football here,” Davids enthused.

He himself has also committed his flourishing future to the club, and that continuity is crucial in ensuring that this incredible season is not a once-off.

As tomorrow approaches, United were tempted to travel down early to Cape Town, but thought better of it.

“We have travelled the day before each away game all season, so to change things now would be weird. You don’t want to be changing things ahead of such a big game,” Davids pointed out.

Footballers are creatures of curious habits, but it is within that repetition that they find the courage to scale mountains previously deemed impossible.

Tomorrow, Davids will take his United side to their biggest mountain yet, and he will ask them to find the conviction to stamp their authority on this final match, as they have in every other match this season. He will ask his side to dream once more, to play for those brothers who cannot play anymore, and to play for a city that has been handed the chance to dream. He will ask his team to reach deep within, and prove that winners can emerge from the unlikeliest of places.

Tomorrow, Davids will ask his men to ditch a Maritzburg United habit of a generation, emerge from the familiar comfort of playing safe and dreaming small, and find the boldness of 2017/18 to break through and become champions. JOSE MOURINHO’S relationship with Antonio Conte has been acrimonious since they took the hot seats at Manchester United and Chelsea respectively but the Portuguese can have the last laugh at Wembley on Saturday.

Few FA Cup finals have been as eagerly awaited as this season’s with both managers desperate to avoid the ignominy of ending the campaign without any silverware.

Mourinho did at least steer United to runners-up spot behind a peerless Manchester City in the Premier League but Conte’s Chelsea trailed in fifth and defeat in what is expected to be his final game in charge would be a bitter pill for the Italian.

Ever since Mourinho, Chelsea’s most successful manager, criticised Conte for his wild celebrations during Chelsea’s 4-0 rout of United in the early weeks of the 2016-17 season, the two have been trading insults, some more veiled than others.

Conte has criticised Mourinho’s spending at United and accused him of being obsessed with events at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho upped the ante by labelling Conte’s touchline manner as clown-like and alluding to a match-fixing allegation Conte was eventually cleared of in Italy. Conte in turn described Mourinho as a “little man” and “a fake”.

Tomorrow United hope to join record-holders Arsenal with 13 FA Cup triumphs to their name. Chelsea have not won the Cup since 2012 when Conte’s compatriot Roberto di Matteo was in charge. Last season they lost 2-1 to Arsenal. No matter who is in charge of Chelsea next season, Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas said the only thing that counts now is to make sure the club ends a disappointing season on a high.

“We can’t make (the season right) because the Champions League (qualification) is gone. “But to finish on a high would be nice.” Mourinho has not won the FA Cup since his first spell at Chelsea in 2007 – his only success in the competition.

Several of his players could also rub salt into Chelsea’s wounds too. United’s Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku was deemed surplus to requirements by Chelsea but has flourished at United while midfielder Nemanja Matic was surprisingly allowed to join Mourinho at Old Trafford last season – a departure that seriously undermined Conte’s squad.

United’s progress under Mourinho has been impressive this season and they garnered 12 more points in the Premier League than they did in his first season.

However, last season Mourinho added the League Cup and Europa League title to the Old Trafford honours list, and midfielder Ander Herrera knows the club is defined by winning silverware.

“This club is about titles, about trophies, it’s about finals,” the Spaniard said. “We will respect Chelsea, they are a top team and are used to winning as well. That makes the final even more difficult.”

While a feisty final is expected, both sets of players, managers and fans will unite to remember former Chelsea and United midfielder Ray Wilkins whose untimely death last month will be marked by a series of special tributes before kickoff.

Wilkins’ widow Jackie will present the trophy to the winners. – Reuters