De Sa was Moroka Swallows’ goalkeeper when The Birds trounced The Brazilians 5-1 in the 1989 Bob Save Super Bowl Final replay. It was a result that sent shock waves around football – Swallows were a good side, but Downs were a team at their swaggering best and for them to lose by such a margin was difficult to comprehend.
Now, more than a quarter-century down the line, Ajax will face Sundowns in this year’s Cup Final, the same competition that was once known as the Super Bowl.
“That Final was 26 years ago but I still remember it vividly,” De Sa tells snl24.com/kickoff. “The first match we did well, but conceded a silly goal which set up a replay.
“We were one up in the final minute when Goodman Hlongwane tried to head the ball back to me, but it fell short – between us – and Andries Chitja nipped in to score.
“After the match, which was played on a Saturday, our coach, the late Eddie Lewis said: ‘Okay guys, I will see you at the team hotel on Tuesday’.
“We were surprised because it meant we didn’t train on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, the day before the match Owen da Gama showed us videos of himself playing in Ireland as a striker.
Afterwards, Eddie said, ‘right lets try Owen up front’ … he switched him from midfield to striker and dropped Les Grobler to midfield.
On match-day, Sundowns were confused. Their defender was following Les into midfield … we managed to beat them 5-1.”
'Beat them' is an understatement – Swallows walloped Downs.
Da Gama was inspirational, and scored twice while Grobler also got on the scoresheet, despite his midfield role.
“Whether you are a player or coach, you always want to win. That is what inspires me; it's the will to win. It doesn’t matter who the opponents are, it’s all about going out there to win the match,” De Sa says.
“But playing against Sundowns will be special…”