Grobler header wins it
SuperSport confirm their status as SA’s cup kings
● Cup pedigree helped SuperSport United bag their third top-eight silverware when they beat debutants Highlands Park with a first-half header by striker Bradley Grobler in a lively but poorly attended MTN8 final at the spiritual home of SA football in Soweto last night.
SuperSport were content to absorb early pressure and only catch their speedy opponents with transition before Grobler pounced with his typical glancing header at the right time to confirm his team as the cup kings of recent times in SA football.
Grobler’s winner came on the stroke of the first 45 minutes against Owen da Gama’s side which dominated early exchanges and had a couple of openings to take the lead.
But just as referee Victor Gomez was about to send both teams to the break, SuperSport midfielder Teboho Mokoena broke free from his marker on the right and went on to deliver a pinpoint cross for Grobler.
Grobler’s goal was also rewarded handsomely by the sponsors of this cup who had put up R25,000 for every goal scored in this final as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations by one of SA’s giant mobile companies.
Grobler’s partner up front, Thamsanqa Gabuza, who finished the competition’s top scorer with three strikes, also went home smiling from ear to ear after getting R25,000 for his man-of-the-match award.
The trophy is a significant achievement for SuperSport coach Kaitano Tembo, who in his first season as head coach at the Pretoria club lost the very same cup to Benni McCarthy’s Cape Town City on penalties in Durban in September last year.
It is the sixth cup in 11 finals for SuperSport.
Highlands could have taken the lead as early as the third minute when Mothobi Mvala found himself unmarked but shot straight to Ronwen Williams in SuperSport’s goal. But Da Gama’s team should get credit for coming out smoking in the second half, continuing to put their foes on the back foot.
Mvala should have found the equaliser for Highlands in the 60th minute but was unlucky to see his header bounce off the post when Williams was in no man’s land.
Yesterday’s final, a third in successive years for SuperSport, was their seventh in this competition and by winning it Tembo’s team matched the three trophies won by rivals Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows in this competition.
With 15 trophies Kaizer Chiefs are still kings in this competition, with Orlando Pirates trailing them with nine titles.
While SuperSport scored six goals to reach this final, Highlands only scored once in their 1-0 victory over Pirates at this venue.
While everything was in order in this final, the attendance left a bitter taste in the mouth. The organisers had claimed earlier in the week that they had sold 20,000 tickets for this final.
But the poor turnout showed again just how much the Johannesburg-based soccer community have lost the appetite to attend important games in their own backyard.
The last time this venue hosted this final was in 2012 in a clash between SuperSport United and Moroka Swallows. At best the people who managed to put their bums on the seats yesterday could be between 10,000 and 15,000 with the upper tier completely empty in a stadium with a 40,000 capacity.
Da Gama’s team should get credit for coming out smoking, putting their foes on the back foot