Maela not thinking about past results as Pirates and Chiefs meet in Nedbank Cup semi-finals

Orlando Pirates might have twice already lost to Kaizer Chiefs this season, but that is all in the past according to Bucs captain Innocent Maela, with the teams set to lock horns in the semi-final of the Nedbank Cup at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.

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In their first meeting this campaign, Chiefs edged the Buccaneers 1-0 last year in October. A stupendous goal by Amakhosi midfielder Yusuf Maart from his own half won the Soweto derby for Amakhosi.

The goal came in the 74th minute of the match, and the Buccaneers weren’t able to stage a come-back.

Fast forward to earlier this year in February for the second round of the league. The Sea Robbers were once again on the losing side, with the same score-line. They were unfortunate to have lost the match as defender Olisa Ndah scored in his own net with only one minute of regular time remaining to the end of the match.

To make matters worse, Pirated had to play most of the match with one man down after Maela received a red-card at the hour mark.

With the Naturena based club having been dominant against their Soweto counterparts, Maela is not shaken about what happened in their previous matches.

The defender says they have put the previous results and what transpired in the past. And the team is focusing on making sure that they win the Ke Yona Cup semi-final over the weekend.

“As players, we don’t go into matches thinking about the past result. I think it’s important that we focus on the game at hand and focus on the plan the coaches will present. And we have to show that we want it more than them and compete to the best of our abilities,” said the Pirates captain.

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“So, we don’t spend our time stressing about what happened in the past. We know that we have an opportunity on Saturday (to beat Chiefs). We have to be present and compete as best as we can.”

Maela has missed the last two games of the Buccaneers. The skipper will be hoping to be in the starting line-up this weekend and make amends for what happened in the last game against Chiefs.