Home

Books will be rewritten come Saturday – Da Gama & Tembo ahead of MTN8 final

Reading Time: 2 minutes

History books could well be rewritten when Highlands Park and SuperSport United line up for the MTN8 Final at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday (Kick-off 6pm).

Highlands coach Owen da Gama acknowledges they go into the game against their more illustrious opponents with the “underdog” tag, but insists they are not all bark and no bite and they might just be the ones lifting the trophy aloft.

SuperSport will be lining up for their third consecutive MTN8 final‚ winning the 2017 edition and losing last season’s to Cape Town City. Highlands Park on the other hand, last played a cup final in 1983.

Da Gama last won a final 13 years ago when he guided the now-defunct Silver Stars to their first major piece of silverware when they beat Ajax Cape Town to the Telkom Cup. He draws a similar picture with his current crop to that class of 2006.

Having lost last season’s finals on the lottery of penalties, Matsatsantsa a Pitori will look to redeem themselves against “The Lions of the North”.

This will be Kaitano Tembo’s second cup final as head coach, and the Zimbabwean mentor would not only want to become one of the youngest coaches to lift this trophy, but the first to win it as a coach and previously as a player.

This weekend’s cup final will be United’s 11th different final over the past nine seasons, having played in 10 and winning five of those.

Tembo urges his peers not be carried away by their “cup specialists” tag and respect their less-fancied opposition. – Report by Tumi Gabonamong

Author

MOST READ