TOYOTA Stadium, Bloemfontein - The phrase ‘it’s a ‘David versus Goliath clash’ is so over-used in football that it has become somewhat of a worn-out cliché. And too often it is used wrongly.
Saturday’s Carling KnockOut clash between Magesi FC and Mamelodi Sundowns fit the billing perfectly though. And the result was apt too, the elite league rookies stunning the multiple league champions 2-1 to be crowned champions in only their 10th match in the top flight.
Way before kick-off when the venue was still so empty and you wondered if the PSL had fibbed in announcing that 70% of the tickets were sold out, Magesi played the David role to the tee.
Now, a fact often overlooked by many in the Biblical story of shepherd boy victory over the Philistine giant is that, it was actually God who won the battle for the Israelite.
Faced with Goliath, David said to the champion fighter “you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,”
Clinton Larsen - the coach of Magesi – had said before the match that they were overwhelming underdogs and that they will essentially be facing the country’s senior national team. That being the case, Dikwena – Crocodiles – clearly needed some divine help, just as David did against Goliath.
Coming out for pre-match warm ups, the Sundowns players swaggered onto the pitch and immediately began performing their drills.
Not so Magesi, who trotted on the pitch sans much fanfare. Instead of beginning with their drills, the entire squad – playing personnel as well as the technical team - huddled up and prayed.
Just as he did back in 2012 in the selfsame competition, albeit when it was referred to as the Telkom KnockOut, against Sundowns when he was in charge of Bloemfontein Celtic, Larsen clearly planned to frustrate the opposition by keeping the score goalless for as long as possible.
The plan seemed to be working and it appeared as though they’d shut Sundowns out until the break. But then Iqraam Rayners broke their resistance when he scored via a sweetly struck shot from inside the box on 35 minutes.
Suddenly, the question now was by how many goals Sundowns will bring an end to their cup final failures – the Brazilians having lost the last two they’d been to.
Football though is fickle at the top. And when Magesi equalized via Tshepo Kakora two minutes after the break, just as Celtic did when they beat Sundowns in 2012, the match was turned on its head.
Of course, Sundowns continued to dominate and they created the most and better chances to score. But Elvis Chipezeze has been colossal for Magesi in this competition and he was once again at the right place at the right time as Manqoba Mngqithi’s men peppered the Limpopo outfit’s goals with shots.
Such dominance without scoring is always dangerous as the opposition often gets chances either on the break or counter-attacks to steal the game.
And that’s exactly what happened late in the match, Delano Abrahams heading in the winner four minutes from time.
It was a killer blow, the goal seemed like the pebble stone from David’s sling which sent the giant Goliath tumbling down to the ground.
There was no finishing Sundowns off like David did Goliath with a sword, Magesi did not need to – that goal from Abrahams was enough.
And you can bet they will tell you at Magesi that their pre-match prayer was answered. Because the reality is that by themselves they just could not have done it.