South Africa’s success as host of football tournaments is without doubt as evidenced by the just ended Orange CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) but the country is starved on continental success on the pitch and two of South African football clubs, Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United will be flying the country’s flag in continental club competition hoping to bring accolades in the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup respectively.
Current defending champions of the South African league (PSL), Kaizer Chiefs make a return to CAF tournaments after their last participation in being 2005. The Soweto based giants will be looking at emulating and possibly going further than their arch rivals, Orlando Pirates who stumbled at the final against current holders, Al Ahly in Egypt last December.
Supersport United FC on the other hand will hope to go further than their previous performance in the CAF Confederations Cup by going beyond the preliminary stages when they head to Botswana for their second leg match against Gaborone United. Chiefs will tackle Namibian champions, Black Africa.
However, South African media have started questioning if there is sufficient depth in the Kaizer Chiefs squad to compete in the Champions League after their recent 2-all league draw against Maritzburg United, doubting whether there is enough depth in the squad to conquer Africa.
Kick Off, which is the leading football magazine in the country, has countered this argument when it reported that the acquisition of deadly striker, Katlego Mphela will add enough firepower in the Chiefs attack.
Chiefs midfielder, Reneilwe Letsholonyane was quoted in the country’s biggest newspaper’s football supplement, Daily Sun’s Sun Sharp saying that he believes that the team has what it takes to go far in the tournament.
“We have experienced players who have represented the country in Africa and the experience we gathered will come in handy for the youngsters in the team” said Letsholonyane.
Supersport United have not received as much media attention compared to their league counterparts but will look at changing that as they head into their return match with a 2-0 victory over Gaborone United of Botswana. The club’s impressive league performance has improved their fan base with the country showing great confidence in the Pretoria based side’s CAF Confederations Cup campaign.
United coach, Calvin Johnson explained to Cafonline.com the importance of South African teams participating in such competitions.
“”These CAF competitions are crucial for us and the development of our players. We have been looking forward to this tournament for a while now and we can’t wait to get as far as we can. Most importantly the development of our players is crucial, once we achieve that, we have done our job. For us, winning is always special, and that too is our objective in this tournament.”
South Africans wait with baited breath to see whether either of these two teams will end the long wait continental victory.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
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