Top tips for today’s UK meetings Kelso is abandoned, but at Southwell and Wolverhampton the horses will strut their stuff.
Chiefs and Pirates have their problems and TAB has added to the excitement of what promises to be an intriguing 172nd Soweto derby this Saturday with a bunch of carryovers including a R150,000 boost to the main Soccer 10 pool.
What a weekend to look forward to! Eight TAB soccer pools will be boosted by carryovers and it’s the return of the Soweto derby, the 172nd clash between the Soweto giants but the first in the DStv Premier League Soccer league this season.
The carryovers include R150,000 to TAB’s main Soccer 10 pool on Saturday, which is headlined by the derby and should total some R2.5 million!
Orlando Pirates both humiliated and pulverised Chiefs over two legs late in October and early November in the MTN8 semifinals.
Their 5-0 aggregate triumph came at a time of much crisis for Chiefs, but the AmaKhosi are now are slowly emerging from their funk.
Chiefs still have plenty troubling them, but it is also evident that all is not right in the Pirates camp.
They may have won at the weekend away at Maritzburg United, but the body language
between coach Joe Zinnbauer and the players looks poor, the behind-the-scenes machinations are in full swing and if matters do not improve the Buccaneers could well have a new coach sooner rather than later.
They have lost twice already this month and a have tricky tie at home to TS Galaxy tonight as they warm-up for the derby.
Chiefs also play tonight and host Baroka FC just down the road at Soccer City, seeking to stretch their current unbeaten run to five games.
Ordinarily, both should be
routine assignments for the Soweto giants but there are factors to consider.
Galaxy had the weekend off, so they will be fresh and come into the game on the back of a 3-0 win at Maritzburg under new coach Owen da Gama.
Baroka FC have long had Chiefs’ number. They famously first beat them in the Nedbank Cup when they were a third-tier club and were also the team that denied Chiefs the league title in the bio-bubble at the end of the last season.
Tonight’s games mean neither
side can focus on the derby until tomorrow, once they have checked the condition of their players.
Saturday’s derby will have little of the stature of past clashes between the two sides because of the absence of spectators. Pirates are, therefore, able to host the game at Orlando although their home ground is hardly a fortress.
But it is a game that can set the tone for the next weeks, maybe even months, for the clubs and is therefore vital for both.