SA TEAMS IN CAF FINALS
SATURDAY’S African Champions League final between Orlando Pirates and Al Ahly at Orlando Stadium marks only the fourth time in 20 years that a South African club finds itself in the decisive tie for a continental title.
Pirates were the first in 1995 and won the old-style African Champions Cup two years before the competition’s format was changed into the Champions League.
In 2001 South African football had two clubs in finals but with mixed fortunes – Kaizer Chiefs won the African Cup Winners’ Cup, which has since been discontinued, but Mamelodi Sundowns lost to Ahly in the Champions League.
Here is a recollection of the three previous finals:
1995: Pirates won in extraordinary circumstances in a result in which they dug deep and showed immense fortitude. They were up against ASEC Mimosas of Abidjan in the deciding tie after beating the champions of Swaziland, Nigeria, Gabon and Uganda to reach the final. As is the case this Saturday, Pirates hosted the first leg of the final against their Ivorian opponents but looked to have duffed it after being held 2-2 at FNB Stadium.
Coach Joe Frickleton was fired after the match and replaced by his assistant Ronald Mkhandawire. There was not much hope held out for the return game at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, where ASEC have such a fearsome reputation and the sense of expectation in the Ivorian capital was overwhelming as the country awaited its first-ever triumph in the continent’s top club competition.
But the Buccaneers won 10 away in a famous snatchand-grab operation, with the decisive goal set up by a clearance from Mark Fish that found Jerry “Legs of Thunder ” Sikhosana on the counterattack and he ran almost half the length of the pitch to score the only goal of the game for Pirates.
2001: Chiefs had a tough run in the last eight with narrow victories over Ismailia of Egypt and Club Africain of Tunisia before booking a final with InterClube of Angola, the police club from Luanda who were also playing in their first African club competition final. The first leg was in Luanda and an understrength Chiefs side, with many key players not registered for the completion, made the perfect start with a 20th-minute goal from their Zimbabwean striker Luke Jukulile, rising to finish off Arthur Zwane’s corner. But then it became a disciplined rearguard action as InterClube quickly equalised and Chiefs had to play the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Isaac Mabotsa was sent off. In the second leg at Ellis Park Chiefs just needed to make sure they did not concede a goal to win and it made for an edgy game as it stayed goalless until right near the end when Stanton Fredericks won a penalty and Patrick Mabedi converted for a 2-1 aggregate triumph.
2001: Sundowns had come through some tough travel and a difficult group with TP Mazembe, Esperance and Nigerian club Julius Berger to reach the semifinal where they needed penalties to overcome Petro Atletico of Angola after a 2-2 aggregate draw.
The first leg of the final was held at Loftus Versfeld and ended in a 1-1 draw after Zambian midfielder Gift Kampamba scored in the first half only for Said Abdelhafiz to equalise 13 minutes into the second half. The second leg score was 3-0 to Ahly.