The Buccaneers won the 2010 and 2011 titles by beating Soweto rivals Moroka Swallows and Kaizer Chiefs respectively, so they went into the showdown against Dikwena as overwhelming favourites to walk away with the big cheque of R8 million.
Dikwena, however, believed that they could cause an upset after they narrowly missed out on the Absa Premiership crown. Coach Cavin Johnson had left the club to join SuperSport United, so Allan Freese just continued where he left off, guiding Dikwena to MTN8 gold.
Robert Ng’ambi opened the scoring for Stars two minutes after the break, but Pirates defender Thabo Matlaba ensured that the game would go to extra time when his long-range effort rattled the back of the net in the 83rd minute.
A man who was part of the action, Namibia-born striker Henrico Botes, remembers how they beat the odds to overcome the Buccaneers.
“Against all odds we made it to the final. The odds were stacked against because we were playing against a powerhouse, but we believed in ourselves,” he tells snl24.com/kickoff.
“We played at Moses Mabhida Stadium and it was raining. We went on to beat them on penalties. It was fantastic because I also converted one penalty in the shootout.
“The stadium was full and majority was the Pirates crowd. It’s one of those days that I will treasure for a long time.”
That MTN8 succees spurred Stars on to win the Telkom Knockout a couple of months later.
“Funny enough we met them in the Telkom Knockout and we beat them again. That season was a fantastic for us. The ground work was laid the season before [with Johnson]. Chiefs beat us to the [league] title the season before, so this had been coming. I remember fondly how our hard work paid off. I wish both teams all the best for this Saturday.“
SuperSport will battle Cape Town City for MTN8 honours in Durban on Saturday night.