10-man Stellenbosch hold on to make history in DRC

Stellenbosch FC made history on Sunday afternoon after a brave effort with 10 men to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup group stages, following their 1-1 stalemate against AS Vita Club at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa.

Stellenbosch won 2-0 in the reverse fixture of the second preliminary round at the Cape Town Stadium last week, signing off with a 3-1 aggregate win after travelling 4,000km to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After a goalless first half on Sunday, the 10-man Stellenbosch side opened the scoring through striker Lehlogonolo Mojela, who was signed from TS Galaxy during the recent transfer window.

The strike, coming in the 71st minute, offered Stellenbosch the cushion of an away goal, and from that point onwards, it was a matter of holding out without conceding four goals.

As the match wound to its close, coach Steve Barker’s team were jolted temporarily when AS Vita scored at the death, and then six extra minutes were played.

With so much at stake, Stellenbosch held on to qualify for the group stages of Africa’s second-tier competition for the first time.

Stellenbosch suffered a double whammy in the first half, but emerged unscathed after a solid all-round performance.

First, striker Mojela thought he had scored in the 13th minute, but the Sierra Leone referee, Rashid Mohamed Conteh, disallowed the goal as he adjudged Mojela to be offside.

On the stroke of half-time, Stellenbosch were reduced to 10 players after defender Ismaël Touré was shown a second yellow and sent off.

After the Mojela goal let-off, AS Vita started imposing themselves on the game and managed three shots on goal in quick succession.

Sage Stephens, the Stellenbosch goalkeeper who is improving with every outing and has strong claims for Bafana Bafana selection, thwarted two attempts that were on target. The other effort flew wide of the posts midway through the half.

Midfielder Jayden Adams – who Stellenbosch miraculously managed to keep hold of during the transfer window – produced a few delightful touches on the half-hour mark, but his shot lacked the power to trouble AS Vita’s goalkeeper Farid Ouédraogo.

After Toure’s dismissal, Barker opted to withdraw the New Zealand-born Andre de Jong and replace him with defender Kyle Jurgens to bolster the team’s defence. The tactical change proved to be spot on.

After the match, Stellenbosch CEO Rob Benadie was overwhelmed with the club’s historic achievement.

He said the day started on a great note when their 10-man Diski team scored a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Mamelodi Sundowns at Idas Valley.

“Today is yet another amazing day in the short history of our club,” said Benadie. “Earlier today, our young Maroons came back from 1-0 down and a red card to beat Sundowns 2-1.

“Hours later, we conquered AS Vita 3-1 on aggregate in an iconic stadium in Kinshasa, with hectic partisan supporters, to qualify for the Confederations Cup group stage.

“The delays and dubious off-field tactics we encountered since arriving on Saturday only further strengthened our resolve.

“It was a super performance by every player, with a brave game plan masterminded by coach Steve Barker and the technical staff. That superb volley by our new striker Mojela bulged the net and our hearts!

“We will enjoy this for a day and then fly back to tackle Cape Town City in the derby on Wednesday. After that, Polokwane City is up next, and then we hit the road for the MTN8 Cup final in Durban.”