Key sentence :
- JOHANNESBURG – FOR somebody who was the butt of numerous Mamelodi Sundowns fans’ jokes five years prior, Ramahlwe Mphahlele could well triumph when it’s all said and done one weekend from now.
- Insulted for having made “a terrible move” back in 2016 when he left a Sundowns outfit he captained to join Kaizer Chiefs, the right-back would presumably have felt a hint of disappointment at his choice.
Soon after he’d exchanged Chloorkop for Naturena, he watched from a distance as the Brazilians caught the CAF Champions League title to turn out to be just the second South African group after Orlando Pirates to be delegated African champions. As if that was not objectionable enough, the club he had pretty recently joined and achievement abruptly looked like the similar lines of the rail route – apparently foreordained never to meet.
That, however, is probably going to change on Saturday on the most significant phase of all – the Champions League last that Mphahlele barely passed up five years prior. As he looks forward to Chiefs’ conflict with defending champs and record nine-time victors Al Ahly, Mphahlele radiated the certainty of a man content with the bearing his vocation has taken. No second thoughts about the past, only appreciation for having the chance at winning mainland club football’s definitive prize.
“We as players feel pleased to go to the heroes alliance last, glad for what we’ve accomplished to arrive at this stage,” he said of an accomplishment a lot of players can dream about. “Relatively few players will play in the CAF Champions League last. Numerous players go through their vocations without arriving at this last. So I am happy, and I see this idiom it is workable for South African clubs to do this all year every year.”