Downs shocked at charity late tackle
Sundowns will keep on supporting the Telkom Charity Cup, largely due to the fact that it is football's small contribution towards making a better life for our people, but the team will seriously reconsider their future participation in the tournament.
A devastated Sundowns PRO Alex Shakoane sat silently at the draw in Hyde Park on Sunday and listened in stunned disbelief as it was announced that the defending Telkom Charity Cup champions were pipped to the post with the narrowest of margins by Moroka Swallows.
Kaizer Chiefs were drawn against Orlando Pirates in the first semifinal of the day at 10am. Their clash will be followed by Swallows against Ria Stars at noon and the final at 4pm.
In the event of a stalemate at the end of regulation time, there will be no extra time nor will the golden goal rule apply, but a straight penalty shootout will determine the winner.
However, with a pained expression, unable to control his emotions, Shakoane first mumbled something inaudible, switched on his mobile telephone and then said the whole voting system was embarrassing to both his team and the spectators.
"We will always support charity and Telkom," said Shakoane.
"But, this is ridiculous. It is downright embarrassing for soccer spectators and I feel particularly sorry for Sundowns and the players," he said, adding that he doubts if they will take further part in the tournament in future.
While Shakoane went as far as to hint at a conspiracy theory and elements within the football establishment which ensured that his team was kept out of the tournament, it was indeed sad that the tournament was arranged in a such a way that the defending champions will not be afforded the opportunity to defend the trophy.
The idea of the tournament is to encourage as many people as possible to vote for their team, and Ria Stars Stars, who certainly do not command better support than both Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, somehow mobilised enough support to attract 52 861 votes at closing time.
And perhaps, this is a lesson that Sundowns need to take into account as a breakdown of the voting showed that Sundowns supporters, who had done well up to Friday, appeared to have stopped voting in the afternoon.
An interpretation of the figures suggests that the Sundowns supporters felt they had done more than enough and relaxed - or maybe thought the deadline was Friday noon instead of midnight.
Whatever the reason, Shakoane continued to criticise the system and claimed, without mentioning names, that "some" of the teams in the tournament were not the kind of teams soccer supporters really wanted to see, indicating that people wanted to see his team.
Mondli Gungubele, the Gauteng MEC for sports, arts and culture, said the government was satisfied about the efforts of the PSL and urged spectators to support the event.
Tickets are on sale at ticket web outlets at R25 for adults, and gates open at 8am. More than 1 000 security personnel will be deployed.