Seventeen long years. That’s how far back since Lamontville Golden Arrows tasted cup success.
The year? 2009. The occasion? The MTN8 final. The venue? Orlando Stadium. The opposition? Ajax Cape Town. And the most important question. The score? Synonymous with tennis: Game. Set. Match. Arrows win 6-0.
The coach? Manqoba Brilliant Mngqithi. The self-effacing mentor delivered a masterclass that lit up the Soweto skyline and sparked celebrations that reverberated from Lamontville to Chesterville. The result that shot straight to the history books, and entered the annals as the biggest winning margin in a final in South African football.
Arrows will attempt to reach their second final in top flight football when they play Marumo Gallants at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi this afternoon. This will be a second meeting between the sides in a space of seven days.
Mngqithi masterminded the Gallants downfall, handing them a 4-0 drubbing. Thokozani Khumalo came off the bench to seal the deal with great gusto. After providing an assist for Isaac Cisse to score the second, Khumalo chipped in with a double in the dying minutes.
In navigating their path to the last four, Arrows pierced Sekhukhune United 3-1 in the last 16 and tamed TS Galaxy 2-1 in the quarterfinal.
Mngqithi’s side went down 3-1 against Orlando Pirates on Wednesday night, not for a lack of fight but because of excessive intensity from a relentless opponent that is firing on all cylinders.
Arrows will look to reignite their firepower against Gallants by getting the most potent striker firing once more. Junior Dion has scored seven of the 18 goals Arrows have managed in 12 Betway Premiership matches this season.
The Ivory Coast striker sits at the summit of the sharpshooters’ standings.
Dion and Khumalo are not the only outstanding weapons in Arrows’ armoury. Among the men of the moment for the Durban side is midfielder Siyanda Ndlovu, whose rich vein of form made him a recipient of the Premiership best player for the September-October monthly awards.
The 23-year-old midfielder has played a pivotal role for Abafana Bes’thende’s rise in form. In five games played in the two months, Ndlovu contributed three goals and an equal number of assists.
He also took home the goal of the month gong for his mazy run past four Stellenbosch players which he capped with a fine finish in a seven-goal end-to-end clash that ended in a 4-3 victory for the Western Cape side.
One of the five victims in the league victories Arrows have achieved is Mamelodi Sundowns, whose only defeat from 12 starts was engineered by Mngqithi, their former mentor.
Mngqithi lost the Carling Knockout Cup last season to Magesi FC, and today he faces a side that eliminated the selfsame Sundowns — and whose goalkeeper won the contest of the glovemen in the penalty shootout by not only saving three to Ronwen Williams’s two but also scored the winning spotkick to send Gallants to the last eight.
In the quarterfinals, Gallants galloped to a four-goal rout past Stellenbosch in pouring rain at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium, where Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo fired two, while Monde Mpambaniso and Edgar Manaka managed a goal apiece to set up the semifinal date with Arrows.
There’s an interesting battle of wits in prospects between Mngqithi, the veteran of the domestic game, against Frenchman Alexandre Lafitte, who — at 28 years old — is the youngest coach in the Betway Premiership circle.
The winner will find Abdeslam Ouaddou waiting in the final after the Moroccan led Orlando Pirates to a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a solitary Tshepang Moremi goal against Richards Bay in the first semifinal at a sold-out Moses Mabhida Stadium yesterday.
Ouaddou will be eager to add the Carling cup to the MTN8 title. But either Mngqithi or Lafitte will fancy their chances given that the competition has been won by Stellies and Magesi in the last two editions.
More so, Mngqithi, not only wants to correct falling at the final hurdle with Sundowns last season but is itching to give a sibling to the Arrows’ sole silverware 17 years later.
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