When Marumo Gallants booked a place in this season’s Confederation Cup, courtesy of finishing runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2022 Nedbank Cup, not even the club’s most ardent fans would have given their team much chance of progressing very far in the continental competition.
Not many would have predicted Gallants would still being around after the play-off round where they faced Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli, a team that reached the semifinals of last season’s competition before losing to Orlando Pirates.
Undaunted by the seemingly impossible task facing them, the unfashionable Limpopo side — they were camping in the relegation zone in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) almost from the start of the season — cast aside their poor domestic form to pull off the first of many shocks that were to follow in their fairy-tale run to the semifinals.
The PSL basement dwellers showed their quality when they overturned a 1-0 deficit from the first leg with a stunning 3-0 home victory over the 12-time Libyan champions to progress to the group stages against all expectations.
Importantly, Gallants won all three of their home games in their group including a 2-0 victory over favourites USM Alger. Remember, it was the 2015 Champions League runners-up who eliminated Cape Town City in the play-off round. A 2-1 away win over the DR Congo’s St Eloi Lupopo enabled Gallants to not only progress to the quarterfinals but to also top their group.
The dream continued with a hard-fought but well deserved victory in the last eight over big-spending Egyptian side Pyramids FC. To put the magnitude of Gallants’ achievement into perspective, remember that the Cairo-based side finished runners-up to mighty Zamalek in the Egyptian league last season. They also have a formidable record in the Confederation Cup, having reached the final in 2020, the semifinals in 2021 and the quarterfinals last season.
The appointment at the end of January of the well-travelled Dylan Kerr, nominally as “consultant to the technical team” but in reality as head coach in-waiting, added further impetus to Gallants’ heroic run. Having won the 2021 Nedbank Cup when he guided unfancied Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila to victory over Chippa United in the final, the Englishman has also helped to change the fortunes of Bahlabane Ba Ntwa in the league.
Kerr has been able to call on his experience of working in Kenya, where he adeptly juggled a plethora of balls to win the league with Gor Mahia in 2018 while also qualifying the club for the group stages of the Confederation Cup.
The 56-year-old Malta-born Englishman, who was first brought to SA to play as left-back for Arcadia Shepherds in 1986 by coach Stan Lapot, helped to dramatically turn around the club’s domestic form to give themselves every chance of surviving relegation.
Before Wednesday’s potentially decisive clash against fellow strugglers Maritzburg United, the Limpopo side were unbeaten in their previous seven league games, having last tasted defeat in the domestic competition on January 28 when they lost 2-0 to Orlando Pirates. In the process, they’ve picked up 13 points after collecting only 15 in their first 20 games of the season.
While extolling the virtues of Kerr, it is worth mentioning the role played by former head coach Dan Malesela and his assistants, Raymond Mdaka and Sly Mosala, in qualifying the team for the group stages of the Confederation Cup. Without their guidance, Gallants would not now be on the minds and lips of many African football followers who have been stunned by their giant-killing run.
Having joined Orlando Pirates (2015 and 2022) and SuperSport United (2017) as PSL clubs who have reached the last four of the Confederation Cup, Gallants will be out to emulate their compatriots who progressed to the final on each occasion, though both stumbled at the final hurdle.
The semifinal clash against Tanzania’s Young Africans promises to be both a battle off and on the pitch, according to Kerr, who knows all about the skulduggery of East African football.
“Yanga [as Young Africans are commonly known] is not going to be easy because of the shady tricks they get up to when you’re in Dar es Salaam — it’s well-known. I’ve been there before and I’ve experienced what they try to get away with and how they try to get away with it, so going away for the first leg is going to benefit us.
“Where we stay is going to be important and we have to organise that ourselves. Just as much as we do, they also want to go all the way to the final, but I think we can do it. If we don’t, it will be very disappointing for the players.”
The Englishman says the secret of the team’s success lies in their ability to “smile and enjoy playing football, to create chances and to score goals”.
Having already dealt with big names like Al Ahli Tripoli, USM Alger and Pyramids, and also having to endure a horror trip to Benghazi where the club’s media officer Rufus Matsena and masseur Tebogo Dhlomo were held hostage for three weeks amid a dispute over unpaid hotel bills, Gallants are primed for any eventuality in Tanzania as the players seek to give expression to their club’s name.
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