City face SSU again in final
Benni McCarthy will be hoping for his first trophy as a coach when Cape Town City meet SuperSport United in the final of the MTN8 for the second year running on Saturday night.
The concept of revenge in football is a more a creation of those previewing a game than those playing in it. It does make for juicy discussion and dissection, but the reality is bygones are seldom top of the agenda when teams meet nowadays, such is the relentless pace of the season. The need to keep looking forward overwhelms what has gone before.
So, revenge might be in newsprint but it is not in the air when Cape Town City meet SuperSport United in Durban for a second successive year in the MTN8 final this weekend.
Saturday night’s clash is again at the Moses Mabhida Stadium where a year ago City let slip a lead and the advantage of an extra man, as SuperSport ran out of fit players, to lose the game on post-match penalties.
It was a gritty victory for SuperSport and a major disappointment for City.
Both clubs were just weeks into new managerial reigns with the trophy success being the first for Eric Tinkler.
But it went downhill for him from there and he lasted only six more months at the club, later being replaced by his assistant Kaitano Tembo, but Benni McCarthy is still in the City job and itching for his maiden coaching title.
Both clubs strengthened already strong-looking squads in the recent off-season transfer window, but have begun the season without any real sense of authority, even if SuperSport did score four goals on Sunday against Black Leopards.
It means there is no overwhelming favourite for the final. SuperSport are better on attack and in defence, but City more creative in their build-up play and should be the more adventurous of the two teams on the night.
TAB offers several betting options on the game for soccer fans, including its popular single-match bet Soccer 1.
The final is the only game on the domestic calendar at the weekend, but in Europe all major leagues continue with some patterns now beginning to emerge.