JOEL Mogorosi cracks a naughty boy’s laugh. The kind that seems to say but ‘it was not my problem that they allowed that goal, right?’
And it certainly was not his problem. He is not a referee, after all.
As Clinton Larsen prepared to lead elite league rookies Magesi FC in the Carling Knockout final against Mamelodi Sundowns at the Toyota Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, local football could not help but reminisce on 2012. Back then, Larsen coached Bloemfontein Celtic to winning 1-0 against Sundowns in the selfsame league cup under the sponsorship of Telkom. Mogorosi scored the match’s solitary ‘goal’.
The former Botswana international is now retired and coaching Majwe FC who campaign in his country’s second tier league and they are sitting pretty atop the table after five matches.
Mogorosi has vivid memories of that match and his ‘goal’.
“I still remember it like it was yesterday. Yes people will talk and say the ball did not cross or whatever. But this is the game of football, things happen very quickly. The moment the ball connected with my head I turned to celebrate because I saw it going in. But I only realised that the whole circumference of the ball did not cross the line when I was back at the hotel watching the news,” Mogorosi chuckles before referring to some of the world’s most renowned controversial ‘goal’ moments.
“Look at the scenario of (Luis) Suarez handling the ball in the last minute to deny Ghana a goal (against Uruguay in the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-final). Thierry Henry’s handball goal (for France against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier) and there was (Diego) Maradona’s Hand of God also (the goal he scored for Argentina using his first against England in the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter final). These things happen and that’s why we call it the beautiful game. So, you snooze, you lose,” the man fondly referred to as Juluka, cracks that laugh.
The history books will always have Larsen leading Celtic to a Telkom Knockout final victory over Sundowns, the debate over the goal notwithstanding, and Mogorosi is hoping that his ‘father’ does it again this weekend.
“My wish is that Clinton will make history itself and I am 100 percent sure that the Celtic crowd will support him and Magesi. Of course, Sundowns are dominating and everyone expects them to win easily. But I hope that Magesi will give them a run for their money.”
Knowing coach Larsen as he does, Mogorosi says the rookies are not going to be flustered or overawed by the occasion.
“I can tell you Clinton is calm, he does not have any pressure and he won’t put his players under any pressure too. We went into that final in 2012 without any pressure but we believed in ourselves, our technical team and our coach and father Clinton Larsen. He told us to go and play our normal game and not bother ourselves that no one believed in us.”
Mogorosi says the game plan was simple – keep the scoreline goalless for as long as possible because that would serve to frustrate Sundowns and they managed to do that until half time
“We were the underdogs and Sundowns duly controlled the game. But ours was just to frustrate them. We knew that they would lose their cool when they didn’t get that early goal.
“At the break, Clinton was calm and was merely motivating us, telling us to not feel any pressure. There was no over the top shouting or loud encouragement. At the break he just told us that we did very well and that we should remain calm, go back and try to finish the game off.
“He told us that we would get a chance and we would score. He was confident that if we scored, Sundowns would not get back.”
Celtic scored just two minutes after the break and – as they say – the rest is history.
Mogorosi believes the Larsen-lightning can strike again this weekend. Will it?