Football tsunami to come Alex way
Malandela may have beaten us for the past three seasons but at some point, so says the law of nature, something has to give in, says Matjila.
The community of Alexandra has been warned to brace itself for a football tsunami that is coming the way of the township on the weekend of April 2.
The tsunami is in the form of a derby match between the township’s two top teams in the SAB League, Black Poison and Malandela Mighty Heroes, which is now the fiercest local soccer rivalries in the modern football history of the iconic township.
Black Poison has been at the top of the summit of the league now for the past four months and they currently have a three-point advantage against Malandela, a side that commands a huge following in the township and is affectionately referred to as the ‘AmaKhosi’ of Alexandra.
Black Poison, which is into its third season of the league while Malandela could be in its sixth year, has unwittingly assumed the place of the Buccaneers in that derby.
It’s not just the league that is at stake between the local Buccaneers and the AmaKhosi, but like the Soweto derby, bragging rights are at stake. Malandela holds the upper hand with an unbeaten record in the derby for the past three years which does not include a draw.
The local Buccaneers are yet to get one over the AmaKhosi and the coaching duo of Black Poison, Andrew Matjila and Wiseman ‘Pepe’ Nkabini, believe this is the time for them, considering what’s at stake in this encounter on April 2.
“They have always beaten us in the derbies for the past three seasons and this last derby of the three seasons surely should be ours to savour. At some point, says the law of nature, something has to give in,” said Matjila.
Matjila also conceded that they are up against an astute reader of the game, Malandela coach Vincent ‘Young Master’ Rammoni, also known in local soccer circles as ‘Pep Guardiola’ after the Manchester City manager.
Most of the victories of ‘Pep Guardiola’ have been come-from-behind affairs and always perpetrated by second half substitutes, which proves he is an astute coach who reads the game very well and makes the appropriate substitutions that deliver the goods.
Rammoni admitted that a derby game knows neither form nor history. “We may have beaten them in all the derbies of the past three seasons, who knows, maybe this time around this derby is theirs,” he said.
