Mahachiheading‘home’
Pirates star looking forward to playing at his old stomping ground
ORLANDO Pirates’ salute, the skulland-crossbones sign, will be met with thunderous applauses at Barbourfields Stadium this afternoon in what will be the friendliest away crowd they will play in front of in the CAF Champions League.
FC Platinum “host” Pirates in Bulawayo in the first match of their group stage campaign almost 200km away from their home in Zvishavane, because their stadium doesn’t meet CAF requirements.
Pirates’ Kudakwashe Mahachi will be very comfortable with his homecoming.
“FC Platinum is a good team,” the Zimbabwean said. “They have won the league twice in a row. They are a good ball-playing team. They keep the ball on the ground. I was even telling my coaches that we mustn’t underestimate them because they can play.
“We need to take that game seriously. Playing at Barbourfields, I know that Highlanders supporters will be supporting Orlando Pirates. I played for Highlanders, I know them. They have the same culture (as Pirates).”
Highlanders also wear the same colours as Pirates.
The 25-year-old from Bulawayo is enjoying a purple patch, having scored two goals in his last two games. In both those matches he came from the bench and in both matches he scored a vital goal. He scored the second equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Highlands Park a week ago and on Tuesday he scored the fourth goal that killed off the Buccaneers’ clash with Chippa United as a contest.
Mahachi’s driving force is a woman who isn’t around to see him finally break into the Pirates fold after a slow start.
“2018 was a terrible year for me. I lost my mother and I didn’t start well when I joined Pirates,” Mahachi said.
“I have started to pick myself up in 2019. Every game that I play, I play for my mother. I play those games like it’s a cup final for me.”
The Highlanders youth product is living his dream with the Buccaneers, a club he supported from a young age. He wasn’t the only one with a soft sport for Pirates in Zimbabwe’s second largest city.
“When I was growing up, everyone in Bulawayo liked Orlando Pirates because they play good football,” Mahachi said.
“They were watching the likes of Teko Modise and (Joseph) Kamwendo. Even Highlanders adapted their style. When they’re saluting the fans, they do the same (crossbones) sign. The supporters will come in their numbers to support us.”
The Buccaneers will be looking to start their group stage campaign with a win against the lowest-ranked team in the group.
Esperance, the reigning champions, and Horoya, quarter-finalists last year, will give the Soweto giants a sterner test than the Zimbabweans.
Coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic has admitted that Pirates’ performance in their first two matches of 2019 has been below their standards. But he did reveal that those matches prepared them well for this clash.
“Mahachi has worked very hard and moved from a suspicious Kuda to the real Kuda,” Sredojevic said.
“The real Kuda scored two goals in the last two matches, showing that he is a player who can make a difference. There are extremely positive signs his performance.
“I want these goals to inject confidence in him because he is far from his best. We want him to give his best to Pirates because we know what he is capable of. We want him to go back to his national team and play in the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in 2019.”