CAF Super Cup

TP Mazembe await Downs

There is a similarity between Mamelodi Sundowns and TP Mazembe that has seen both of their ascents in the last decade thanks to benevolent owners with deep pockets, though there is perhaps a contrast in how those funds were obtained. TP Mazembe have been among the leading lights on the African continent since they claimed the Champions League title in 2009, going on to win again the following year and repeating the triumph in 2015. They won the Confederation Cup last year having been ousted from the Champions League by Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca in a surprise second round defeat. By that time they had already claimed the 2016 Super Cup, beating Tunisian side Étoile du Sahel 2-1 in their Lubumbashi stronghold, which they have turned into a fortress by hook or crook. The tales of skulduggery from the club in their own back yard have become the stuff of legend in continental football circles, yet they are rarely sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football having emerged as one of the elite sides on the continent. Just ask Orlando Pirates, who somehow overcame the DR Congo side 3-2 on aggregate on their way to the 2013 Champions League final. Pirates won the home leg 3-1, after which a Congolese official allegedly struck a match official at the Orlando Stadium, before overcoming intense pressure and the officials in the return in Lubumbashi. They had skipper Lucky Lekgwathi sent-off early on and the late Senzo Menyiwa saved two penalties in a game that was the making of him in the Pirates goals. Sundowns also lost 3-1 in the DR Congo on their way to being dumped out of the Champions League in 2015, though Pitso Mosimane felt at the time that was less to do with the officiating and more to do with his own team’s naivety. It was results such as that though, that steeled his squad for their 2016 assault on the title that would prove successful. They will be spared a trip to Lubumbashi this time as they host the Super Cup, looking to become the first South African side since Pirates to win the silverware. The Buccaneers beat Algerian side JS Kabylie 1-0 at FNB Stadium to lift the trophy, but six years later Kaizer Chiefs were thumped 4-1 by Al Ahly of Egypt when they became the sec-

ond South African team to contest the showpiece fixture. Sundowns have been fuelled by the cash of billionaire owner Patrice Motsepe, who has been able to lure top players and coaches to his club by investing a small portion of the money he has made through his mining empire. Mazembe, too, have been catapulted to continental success by the money pumped into the club by its president, the former governor of the copperrich Katanga Province in the DR Congo, Moise Katumbi. There were long rumours that Katumbi used his position as governor to raid the coffers of the province and fund the team, paying salaries that were considerably more than his star players would earn in Europe, thus tying them to his team. This has not been substantiated, but he has been credited for pumping in $35-million (R425-million) of his own funds to build a new state-ofthe-art stadium, completed in 2011. Mazembe have been rocked by the exile of Katumbi, allegedly forced by his one-time ally, DR Congo leader Joseph Kabila, with whom the ex-governor was set to contest presidential elections. In June last year Katumbi was convicted, in his absence, of selling a house that did not belong to him and sentenced to three years in jail. This has been widely viewed as a trumped-up charge by Kabila to neutralise one of his political foes and hang on to power. Mazembe have largely powered on regardless and claimed the domestic Linafoot title in 2016 under coach Hubert Velud, who has since left for Etoile du Sahel. By mid-January the Congolese had yet to appoint a new man, but the club has announced the extension of the contracts of Zambian duo Rainford Kalaba and Nathan Sinkala. Kalaba competed with Sundowns duo Denis Onyango and Khama Billiat for the Africa-based Player of the Year award for 2016, but finished third in the voting. Mazembe have a number of current Congolese internationals, including goalkeeper Ley Matampi, defenders Issama Mpeko and Nekadio Luyindama, midfielder Merveille Bokadi Bope, and forwards Jonathan Bolingi and Elia Meschak, the latter a particularly exciting 20-year-old.