Hendrick Ekstein of Kaizer Chiefs and Mpho Makola of Orlando Pirates during the Absa Premiership match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
Phakaaathi’s Jonty Mark and Khaya Ndubane give their views on who will win the Soweto derby, and why.
Why Pirates will win (Khaya Ndubane, Online Content Manager)
Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs clash in the first Soweto derby of the 2018/19 Absa Premiership season at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Amakhosi have a slight edge in the overall head-to-head statistics, but the momentum is with the Buccaneers going into this match. In the last 40 matches in all competitions between the two since 2004, Chiefs have won 12 and Pirates 10, with the other 18 ending in draws.
But as stated before, Pirates are slight favourites to win this match, as they have not tasted defeat against Chiefs in the league since December 2014.
On the other side, Bucs took four points from Amakhosi last season. The sides played to a goalless draw in the first half of the 2017/18 season, before Pirates handed Chiefs a 3-1 drubbing in the second leg in March this year. That defeat is fresh on the Chiefs players’ minds going into this epic battle at the FNB Stadium and they will be looking to avenge it. But it will take something special for them to do that against a Pirates side that is unbeaten in their last seven matches.
Both teams come into this match on the back of victories in the Telkom Knockout and they will be high on confidence. They are also only separated by one point in the log standings and have conceded the same number of goals this season. This makes the prediction very difficult for this match, but I’m going for a Pirates win.
Prediction: Orlando Pirates 2 Kaizer Chiefs 1
Why Chiefs will win (Jonty Mark, Phakaaathi Editor)
It was December 6, 2014 that Kaizer Chiefs last beat Orlando Pirates in an official Premier Soccer League match, a record that has to be a cause of severe embarrassment to Amakhosi supporters.
Siphiwe Tshabalala and Siphelele Mthembu were the goalscorers on that day, as Chiefs beat the Buccaneers 2-0, though Amakhosi ended up losing out to Mamelodi Sundowns in the race for the league title.
Today at FNB Stadium, Chiefs get another chance to break their streak of draws or defeats against Pirates, and if the Buccaneers have to be favourites purely by virtue of the statistics, I actually think Chiefs might just upset the applecart.
Chiefs might be sweating on the fitness of the likes of Khama Billiat, and if the Zimbabwean is fit, it will certainly boost their chances of beating Pirates, so important is Billiat already to Giovanni Solinas.
The derby, however, is often not about individuals, but about who has the better team ethic on the day. Chiefs have started to develop under Solinas after a slow start to the season, and have, at times, played exhiliarating attacking football. While they have played down the comment of Pirates assistant coachy Rhulani Mokwena this week, meanwhile, I think underneath Chiefs will be determined to prove a point, particularly Solinas, who was rather undermined by Mokwena’s discourse.
Records are there to be broken, and I think Orlando Pirates’ hold over Chiefs will be snapped today, Amakhosi winning 2-1.
Prediction: Orlando Pirates 1 Kaizer Chiefs 2
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