Jonglei State’s Al Salam Bor Football Club has been crowned the winners of the second edition of the South Sudan National Super Cup for the first time after defeating rivals Al-Merreikh of Juba 2-1 in the final game on Saturday in Juba.
Mabior Heir Jok, the league’s top scorer opened the scoring for Al Salam in the nineteenth minute after he rose high and headed the ball he received from Michael Agok through a direct free kick from the middle of the field into the goal.
Jok returned to score a second goal for his team in minute 62 through another header.
Substitute player Jimmy Michael, the league’s top scorer last season, reduced the gap in the 70th minute after beautifully chasing a long ball that defender Pal Phuoc had played to him behind the defenders.
The referee blew the final whistle with Al-Salam defeating Al-Merreikh 2-1 and winning the South Sudan National Super Cup for the first time.
Al Salam Bor’s Jok received the Star of the Match award after his stellar performance.
Meanwhile, Isaac Ayowal Lam, the chairman of the Competitions Committee of the South Sudan Football Association, explained that the match is considered an opening for the start of tournaments at the national level.
He revealed that this tournament is considered the second edition of the Super Cup and called on all national companies and businessmen to participate in supporting competitions at all levels to develop the capabilities of players in South Sudan.
Ayowal also explained that local teams suffer a lot when representing the country at regional and international tournaments and gave the example of what happened to the Al-Merrikh team which played its last match in Angola with ten players.
For his part, Augustino Madut, the president of the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA), expressed happiness for the success of the tournament and the game between Al-Merrikh Juba and Al Salam Bor.
“The match was very good and the two teams presented a good level of play and entertained. This is considered an affirmation of what sports and football mean,” he said. “This the spirit required in football, which the two teams demonstrated by establishing a culture of peace, unity, and love among ourselves.”
Edward Setmo, the director general of the National Ministry of Youth and Sports, apologized on behalf of his minister who missed the game and saluted the tournament’s organizing committee for the great work they did in making it a success.
He said that his ministry is aware of the many difficulties and challenges that the two teams faced and Al Salam’s failure to travel to Morocco to participate in the African Champions League tournament and its withdrawal due to financial constraints.
“This is considered one of the major difficulties facing football in South Sudan and we are calling for cooperation and working together to solve such problems because the federation, the ministry, or the clubs cannot do so alone,” Setmo said.
The Super Cup brings together the champions of the South Sudan National Cup and the South Sudan National League from the previous season.
Al-Merreikh team won the cup title last season which qualified it to participate in the Confederation of African Football Confederation Cup, while Al-Salam won the league title, which qualified it to participate in the African Champions League.
It is worth noting that the Zalan Rumbek team was crowned champion of the first edition of the South Sudan National Super Cup after defeating Al Hilal Wau in the final last season.