City, Sundowns battle for first silverware on offer

by Graeme Jackson

Friday Oct 29, 2021. 10:00

Cape Town City and Mamelodi Sundowns will battle for the first piece of silverware on offer this season when they meet in the MTN8 final, set for the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday 30 October 2021, kick-off at 18h00 CAT.

City earned their place in the final by defeating AmaZulu (2-1) and Swallows (4-0 on aggregate) in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. The Citizens have enjoyed a fine record in this competition in recent years (champions in 2017, runners-up in 2018) and will be hoping to cement that legacy come Saturday.

The Cape side come into the game on the back of a 4-3 home win over Golden Arrows in the league last weekend – a game in which they showed both their offensive power by going 4-0 up, as well as their defensive frailty by shipping three goals in the final half hour of the game.

Coach Eric Tinkler has promised that they will bring the game to Sundowns: “If you are going to sit back and wait, they will punish you,”he explained.

“We have to be brave and we will go out and play offensive and attacking football because that’s what we are good at.

“If we had to win 4-3, like the game against Golden Arrows, it would be fantastic. It will be good for the fans if we see a final with a lot of goals.

“Defensively we have to be better, especially coming up against a quality side like Sundowns is going to bring.

“But at the same time we focus on where our strength lies. We managed to get ourselves into the final and we are playing a very good team in Sundowns, who are definite favourites and we go in as the underdogs.”

Sundowns, meanwhile, overcame Kaizer Chiefs (2-2, won on penalties) and Golden Arrows (4-1 on aggregate) to book their place in the final. The Brazilians are looking to win the Top Eight trophy for the first time since 2007 – for all their dominance of domestic football in recent years, this is the one competition that has consistently eluded them.

And ‘Downs are in good nick coming into the game, having completed a 2-0 (4-2 on aggregate) win over AS Maniema Union in the CAF Champions League this past weekend, earning themselves a spot in the group stage of the continent’s top competition for a seventh successive season.

“We expect a very difficult match against a very good side,” said Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena.

He added, “The good thing is that we have the experience that coach Manqoba [Mnqithi] has with cup finals, coach Steve Kompela has been a head coach in cup finals and we have the experience of players in dealing with cup finals.

“We are blessed in that space that we have players that have played so many cup finals and games of consequence, they know what playing games of consequence means for the club and how important it is for us to be able to put this one to bed for the club.

“It is the one trophy that over the years we haven’t won and it’s a trophy that we are motivated by the desires of our goals and not being motivated by the pressure of having not won the trophy, it’s two different aspects: the one comes from more of a negative context and the one comes from more of the positive context.”

In head-to-head terms, City and Sundowns have met in three previous cup games, with the Brazilians leading the series two wins to one. Overall, the clubs have clashed in 13 matches since the Citizens’ formation in 2016, with each claiming six victories.

Their most recent meetings were in the 2020-21 DStv Premiership, with ‘Downs picking up a league ‘double’ by winning 2-0 away and 3-0 at home.

Head-to-Head (since 2016/17)

PREVIOUS CUP MEETINGS

Season Cup Result Scorers

2017/18 Nedbank Cup, qfinal CTC 1-2 Sundowns Ralani; Tau, Kekana

2018/19 MTN8, sfinal, 1st leg CTC 1-0 Sundowns Fielies

2018/19 MTN8, sfinal, 2^nd leg Sundowns 1-0* CTC Toni Silva

*1-1 on aggregate, City won 4-2 on penalties

LAST 10 LEAGUE RESULTS

Season Result Scorers

2016/17 Sundowns 1-2 CTC Nthethe; Manyama 2

2016/17 CTC 1-0 Sundowns Manyama

2017/18 Sundowns 0-1 CTC Akosah-Bempah

2017/18 CTC 0-1 Sundowns Billiat

2018/19 Sundowns 3-2 CTC Maboe, Laffor, Mahlambi; Norodien (pen), Erasmus

2018/19 CTC 2-1 Sundowns Erasmus, David; Maboe

2019/20 Sundowns 1-1 CTC Kekana; Edmilson

2019/20 CTC 3-2 Sundowns Ralani 2, Erasmus; Edmilson (og), Makgalwa

2020/21 CTC 0-2 Sundowns Lakay, Makgalwa

2020/21 Sundowns 3-0 CTC Lakay, Shalulile 2

CUP RECORD

P W D L GF GA

Sundowns 3 2 0 1 3 2

CTC 3 1 0 2 2 3

OVERALL RECORD (all competitions)

P W D L GF GA

Sundowns 13 6 1 6 17 14

CTC 13 6 1 6 14 17