There has been a new twist in the Orlando Pirates starting line-up for the eagerly-anticipated Carling Black Label Cup (Saturday, August 1) clash with Kaizer Chiefs, with the news that two defenders have lost their fitness battle for the prestigious fixture.
Left-back Thabo Matlaba and central defender Rooi Mahamutsa will not be fit in time for the game and have been replaced by Patrick Phungwayo and Tshepo Gumede respectively, who are both Bafana Bafana internationals.
Matlaba was injured in the team’s CAF Confederation Cup win over CS Sfaxien in Tunisia on Sunday, and Mahamutsa did not make that trip at all due to a long-standing niggle.
However, the great news for the Champion Coaches from the Orlando Pirates camp is that captain and midfield general, Oupa Manyisa, will be fit to take his place in the Consumer Coaches’ line-up against rivals Kaizer Chiefs.
Manyisa had been struggling after the Sfaxien game, but has been cleared to play. He will line-up in front of over 90 000 plus fans at the sold out FNB Stadium for the fixture which kicks-off at 15:00 on Saturday.
The line-ups for the Carling Black Label Cup clash have been chosen by the fans of the respective sides, who have used their football knowledge to try and lead their heroes to victory.
Vijay Govindsamy, general manager of Carling Black Label said: “On behalf of Carling Black Label, we would like to thank all of the hundreds of thousands of fans who voted in this year’s edition of the Carling Black Label Cup and look forward to seeing their coaching abilities in action.”
