The much-anticipated MTN8 final between defending champions Orlando Pirates and challengers Mamelodi Sundowns is edging closer, as the two best South African teams will be locking horns in a showdown at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
In the past two weeks, Sundowns and Pirates were compatriots and comrades in the Bafana Bafana camp, fighting for the SA flag against Guinea and Eritrea, in their quest to qualify for the 2027 Afcon. Today, they will be on the opposite sides fighting each other like warring siblings for the Wafa-Wafa cup glory.
A lot will be at stake in this no-holds-barred kind of match, as both teams will be having their own missions on the day.
Pirates will be looking to defend their top eight crown for a fifth record time and be the joint most successful club to win the competition 15 times in history alongside Soweto rivals, Kaizer Chiefs.
Sundowns, on the other hand, will be out to lift their first MTN8 title for the first time since 2021. The Brazilians have won several trophies in the past decade but have somehow fallen short in the MTN8, having lifted the trophy only four times in their history and once in
18 years. Understandably, the two sides will be desperate to win the title and claim the bragging rights.
The last time the two sides met in a final was in the Nedbank Cup in 2024, when Bucs scored a late winner through Relebohile Mofokeng to break the hearts of the Sundowns faithful.
One can imagine how much winning this final will mean for Masandawana and Miguel Cardoso because they will also be looking to settle that score against a team that ended their eight-year reign in the league and snatched it away from them.
“The MTN8 trophy has not been at Chloorkop but it is a trophy that we value as much as others,” Cardoso said at the start of the competition.
“It is not a good thing that in 18 years, Sundowns have won the MTN8 only once. And I remember [telling] my players after the game against Polokwane City that when there is a pattern like this, of winning the MTN8 once in 18 years, we must try to find different ways to approach the competition. I will surely remind the boys again ahead of this match.”
Cardoso will be hoping his key players, Teboho Mokoena and Aubrey Modiba, will be fit for the final after they picked up injuries while on national team duty with Bafana Bafana.
Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has received a boost with the return of experienced midfielder Thalente Mbatha and striker Evidence Makgopa.
- The much-anticipated MTN8 final between defending champions Orlando Pirates and challengers Mamelodi Sundowns is edging closer, as the two best South African teams will be locking horns in a showdown at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
- In the past two weeks, Sundowns and Pirates were compatriots and comrades in the Bafana Bafana camp, fighting for the SA flag against Guinea and Eritrea, in their quest to qualify for the 2027 Afcon.
- Today, they will be on the opposite sides fighting each other like warring siblings for the Wafa-Wafa cup glory.
- A lot will be at stake in this no-holds-barred kind of match, as both teams will be having their own missions on the day.
- Pirates will be looking to defend their top eight crown for a fifth record time and be the joint most successful club to win the competition 15 times in history alongside Soweto rivals, Kaizer Chiefs.
