A double against Pirates this afternoon will set Chiefs’ one hand on the championship trophy. Whether this happens in actual fact or not, the memories of this Saturday Feb. 29 Soweto derby match-up may last longer than the ultimate title winners of the 2019/20. Besides all the sideshows and mind games being traded, the derby has the pedigree to swing the pendulum to influence this season’s league-title winners.
The kick-off between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs is at 15h30 at FNB Stadium in Soweto, south of Johannesburg.
Until two weeks ago, Chiefs looked untouchably pretty set at the apex of the league in their quest to the Absa Premiership trophy in almost half a decade. Things have changed. There is trepidation in the air at the Amakhosi (Chiefs) camp that the season may turn pear shape.
As tradition would have it, this Saturday is crunch time for yet another installment of the always exhilarating Soweto derby. The expensive question is: will Amakhosi repeat the feat of the 1st round and record a double against their closest rivals? Is there a master stroke up their sleeves?
The Buccaneers too, are mulling over toppling the mighty Chiefs from their high and galloping horses. What happened in their last duel, is a dusty memory in the sphere. So they claim. However, vengeance to return the lethal blow would suit the Pirates faithful. For derby losses are not an ordinary date.
Despite the anxiety and excitement among the fans of the duo prior to the epic clash, the entertainment they have dished out in years gone past has given football lovers a heritage money can not buy. There is a lot of respect between the Soweto arch-rivals though, as much as there is a fierce ruffling of feathers.
Although Orlando Pirates did not start the season well, they have made amends. Others argue that the changes made by management in December enlisting the services of coach Josef Zinnbauer were timely for the results are coming through.
On the contrary, Kaizer Chiefs got off to a flying start. They have been synonymous with the league’s top spot for the most part of the 2019/20 season. Chiefs are on 41 points after 20 matches.
Yet, should they let it slip, they will know fully well that they had the harnesses for the longest time in the Premier Soccer League (PSL). It may agitate and alienate supporters and wagers alike. They would have let the guard down when it mattered the most?
Orlando Pirates know it better that Soweto derbies are a cultural ritual never to be treated with disdain. There are no excuses for defeat. As much as it has made many a career, it has ended some. This time around, they will go for it with all their sharpened weaponry.
They will hope their top goalscorer Gabadinho Mhango continues on his prolific scoring form. He has found the net 14 times this season.
Knowing that a win will thrusts them in the reckoning for the silverware at the end of the season. Again, there is a spot for the continental berth secured by finishing in a respectable position on the log.
Pirates have accumulated 39 points out of 21 league games and are third on the log. Occupying the second position are Mamelodi Sundowns with 41 points after 20 games and are off in the domestic league schedule this weekend.
They are away to Egyptian juggernaut Al Ahly in the first-leg of the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. Their match is scheduled for 18h00 this Saturday.
While a win for Chiefs will extend their gap to seven points, a loss will render the league race wide open. Needless to say Pirates will narrow Chiefs’ lead to within three points; and a loss, surely, will be a setback to their title hopes. A deadlock will not be bad for either side.
Both clubs [Pirates and Chiefs] are coached by Germans. One wonders whether there lies no other collision of related, if not equal traditions. The familial of their European roots are adding flavour worthy of tossing up in the clash of the PSL titans.
Zinnbauer says he hopes the game is not too hyped because three points are still at stake regardless of the significance of the derby.
It will be a very entertaining game and a crucial one but it will not decide the championship, said Middendorp. For his charges, Samir Nurkovic will be critical upfront. Should the final pass find him in danger zones, Nurkovic has a chance to top up his current 11 goals tally.
The age-old Soweto rivalry is upon us. It is one of the highly anticipated footballing duel in the Southern tip of Africa. It is counted among the few spell-binding encounters in the world.
This is more than a game. It’s a tit-for-tat sibling battle sparing no peer.
Every football fan brings their activities to a grinding halt when the duo crosswords to determine who is the uber top dog of the game, the game of games. There is no derby like it in Africa.
From the dusty home-towns to the glistening cocoons of eluminating lights, it lures even the apathetic of citizens to witness history in the making season after season without disappointment. It is a game worth self-seeing for hearsay may reduce all the trappings it often proffers.
Some games are missed, seldom is a derby. The Soweto one is a permanent must-watch fixture in the SA’s footballing calender that brings other events to a standstill. Like unrelenting gravity in our habitat, it has enticed scores of supporters from near and far across the globe.
International viewers across the world have leaped into the captivating Soweto derby train.
In 2013, SowetanLIVE published an article which showed the global audience with interest in the Soweto derby. It said:
“The potential reach is thus 106,5 million households in the US (ESPN3), Caribbean (ESPN Play), Latin America (ESPN Play) and Australia/New Zealand (ESPN3). Al Jazeera has also joined the PSL derby party in the Middle East and North Africa, while ESPN TV will make the match available in the UK and Republic of Ireland.”
As the two Soweto giants will lock horns in front of thousands of fans in the FNB Stadium terraces Saturday afternoon, so will the millions glued on their screens, audio-media and online services streamed on digital platforms in homes and across the globe.
The outcome between Pirates, today hosting, and Chiefs is often unpredictable. Since Zinnbauer took charge last December, the Buccaneers have climbed a crest of successive wins in the league.
On the other hand, Amakhosi have stumbled recently in the league and a cup game. The twin back-to-back losses have sent jitters down Chiefs supporters’ spines across the spectrum. Is the domino effect knocking? Will the football masses witness acceleration in that regard?
That said, form in derby games is no true indicator of what is to come. The pride of wearing these titanic clubs’ jerseys go beyond current form and depth. Only the last wail of the whistle can declare the victor.