Orlando Pirates will be hoping to finally get the better of their arch rivals Kaizer Chiefs in their Nedbank Cup Soweto Derby semifinal.
Cape Town – The upcoming Nedbank Cup semi-final will give Orlando Pirates a chance to snap Kaizer Chiefs’ sterling run of five consecutive Soweto Derby victories.
Should Chiefs triumph they will complete a run of six consecutive Soweto Derby victories. They last achieved that feat in 1992.
The Soweto arch-rivals last met in February when 10-man Pirates perished after an own goal which proved to be the match decider.
Pirates defender Nigerian Olisa Ndah back-headed the ball, thinking his goalkeeper Sipho Chaine was in a position to gather the pass. However, Chaine had come well off his line and the ball looped unchallenged into the Pirates’ net two minutes from the end.
Ndah who came on as a substitute suffered an injury and has not played for Pirates such that match which many critics described as “boring” and of “low standard”.
It was not the own goal that was the talking point for hours after the final whistle. It was the red card that was controversially handed out to Pirates midfielder Innocent Maela around the hour mark. Maela was red-carded for a tackle on Chiefs striker Christian Saile.
The outcry followed because Saile was guilty of a potential leg-breaking tackle on Maela early in the first half, but he went unpunished. The tackle was bad enough to warrant a red card.
It’s not only red cards that have worked wonderfully in favour of Chiefs. The dreaded penalty has sounded the death knell for many of Chiefs’ opponents this season. On Sunday, a penalty in extra time helped Chiefs to reach the Nedbank Cup semi-finals at the expense of Royal AM, who did their cause harm by scoring an own goal.
Coach Arthur ‘10111’ Zwane said after the match the own goal came about because of the pressure that Chiefs had been applying on Royal AM.
“Because of the pressure, we applied we forced them to make a mistake. That has been our game,” said Zwane. “It has been working for us, our high tempo game resulted in them scoring an own goal.
“Though we did not create chances in the opening 20 to 25 minutes, we were getting out of the pressing traps they set for us.
“We gave away a goal against the run of play and were lucky not to concede a second similarly from a corner.
“We went all the way to extra time and, with the way we play, I knew we stood a good chance of getting the second goal because Royal AM’s legs were gone.
“We were first to every ball and created chances again. I can’t fault the effort of my players. They came here with only one thing on their minds. They wanted to go through to the semi-final.”
In the final analysis, the penalty came in handy for Chiefs and their performance was hardly awe-inspiring. The same can be said about Pirates who needed a penalty shoot-out to edge First Division outfit Dondol Stars.
This will be the first Nedbank Cup meeting between the sides since 2016 when a brace of goals from Zimbabwe striker Tendai Ndoro secured a comfortable 2-0 win for Pirates.
Should Pirates win this upcoming semi-final they will equal Mamelodi Sundowns’ record of five Nedbank Cup finals since 2008. Chiefs have played two finals over that period.
@Herman_Gibbs
