OPINION – Mofokeng magic puts a fitting seal on a fantastic final

When Relebohile Mofokeng slid the ball through the legs of Bongani Zungu at Mbombela Stadium in stoppage time of the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday, for a moment time stood still.

There was an element of fortune about the 19 year-old Pirates wizard’s shibobo, as the ball didn’t quite move cleanly through the Sundowns midfielder’s legs. The ball span in a way that seemed to catch everyone inside the penalty area by surprise.

Sundowns’ defenders stopped and so did Mofokeng. But it was Mofokeng who reacted quickest once the pause was over. And the rest was genius, in a split second assessing what to do and toe-poking a perfect finish past Ronwen Williams.

It was a wonderful end to a gripping, flawed final. Both sides made plenty of mistakes, there were an inordinate amount of injuries, and referee Skhumbuzo Gasa gave a disaster-class in how not to officiate a game like this.

Neither of the penalties Gasa gave were in any way penalties. On both occasions the referee paused for thought before pointing to the spot. This is, in essence, a sensible move. In a game of this magnitude, in such a pulsating atmosphere, it is better to take your time over key decisions. Yet to take your time and still get both decisions wrong is almost more absurd.

Still, it all added to the drama. Sipho Chaine saved Lucas Ribeiro’s penalty, given after Mudau injured himself in a collision with Deon Hotto inside the box. The ball was already on its way out of play when Mudau went down, and it was hard to see where a foul was anyway.

Gasa and the match officials may even have compounded that error with another as Chaine seemed to move off his line to save the spot kick.

Mudau is clearly so valuable to Sundowns that even an inability to move his shoulder is too important for Rulani Mokowena to take him off the pitch.

The Bafana right back kept falling over. And then he kept getting back up. He seemed to have a ludicrous amount of taping around his shoulder. Surely he would come off at half time? Nope, there he was again in the second half. Who knows what Thapelo Morena, with two functioning shoulders, was thinking?

Ribeiro produced a moment of Brazilian samba perfection to make up for his penalty miss, leaving Innocent Maela in a daze and crossing for Themba Zwane to tap home Sundowns’ opener.

It looked like Sundowns would win from there, even though Ribeiro immediately had to go off injured. The signs all pointed to a post-match lynching of Jose Riveiro for leaving Mofokeng and top scorer Tshegofatso Mabasa on the bench.

Fine margins

There are fine margins between tinkering tomfoolery and a tactical masterclass. Mabasa came on and immediately improved Pirates in attack. But it was only when Patrick Maswanganyi appeared to figure out Gasa was in the mood for pointing to the spot that the game truly turned.

Maswanganyi launched himself into Aubrey Modiba inside the penalty area and fell theatrically to the turf. Modiba also went down, as you would when a player suddenly flies into your chest. But according to the world of Gasa, it was a penalty.

‘Tito’ sent Williams the wrong way, and the game was in the balance. Pirates had won last season’s Nedbank Cup final against Sekhukhune United with a stoppage time winner from Terrence Dzvukamanja.

Thanks to Mofokeng, they did it again. Riveiro and Pirates are the knockout kings. And in Mofokeng they have a real star of present and future. Hopefully the youngster can provide the same sort of spark for Bafana against Nigeria in Uyo on Friday.