With Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch FC set to engage in the final, the man who netted what is regarded as the best MTN8 goal ever scored has taken time out to revisit the historic moment.
Golden Arrows were brutal in obliterating Ajax Cape Town in a one-sided MTN8 final on the evening of 24 October 2009 at Orlando Stadium.
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Njabulo Manqana, Deniss Ivanovs (own goal), Richard Henyekane, Thokozani Mshengu, and Ntlantla Zothwane all scored to make it 5-0, but it was the fifth goal that got everyone talking and is still being spoken about to this day.
Manqana beat his man in a one-on-one duel on the right side of the opposition’s 18-yard area, and as goalkeeper Hans Vonk advanced to close down the angle on the near post, the winger chipped the ball to the far post and it slowly zig-zagged its way to the far post.
“You know, after scoring that goal, some were saying, ‘Ah, this guy is using muti’,” said ‘Mvonqo’ as he reflected on the strike in an interview with KickOff.com.
“Even now, MTN8 have what they call the Last Legend Standing competition, and when you win it, you get R180 000, which you have to spend giving back to the community.
"So, I’ve won it twice, and the guys have been giving me a hard time about it, saying, ‘Ah mf’ethu, so you’re still continuing with your inyanga that helped you score that goal?’
“You see that ‘snake’ goal that I scored, that’s a technique that I normally used during training. I would hit someone with a snake and then chip the ball. Everyone at Arrows knew about it, and the only ones that were surprised were those who had not seen it before," he added.
Tragedy had struck after his mother's passing in 2008.
“That was soon after Bra Mish’s (Rocky Madlala) passing, so that was not a good year for me. When we went to play the final the following year, that thing was still eating me up, that my parent was no more. That drove me to do more on the pitch.
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“I remember one of my aunts calling me and telling me, ‘You see that goal that you scored, that ball was kicked by your mother there at the end. You just chipped it and your mother did the rest.’
“She was a very supportive mother, so I also do believe it when they say she helped the ball go over the line because that ball was spinning,” added the chatty erstwhile dribbling wizard, who is currently one of the MTN8 ambassadors.
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images