All Stars FC v Orlando Pira

11 February, Wits Football Stadium, 20h

Minnows to call on Rhulani?

This match represents all that the Nedbank Cup is about. A team from a division below, hosting one of the country’s biggest clubs at a smaller, tighter stadium. Every time that Bucs are drawn against a side outside the topflight, their decade-long trauma comes to the surface again. In 2013, third-tier Maluti FET College from Free State humiliated them 4-1 at this stage of the competition. To date, it may be the biggest upset this cup competition has produced. To be fair, they did win the trophy a year later under coach Vladimir Vermezovic, but it’s since been eight dry years in the Nedbank Cup. The Soweto giants lifted the MTN8 prior to the World Cup hiatus, beating AmaZulu 1-0, and they also won the same trophy in 2020. Their PSL title wait may have reached 11 years, but at least they can say their current overall trophy drought only sits at three months right now!

As for All Stars FC, they sit in sixth place in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, some nine points off top spot. With just nine goals conceded in 17 matches, they have by far the division’s best defensive record. At the heart of that are two players with strong Pirates connections in Diamond Thopola and especially on-loan Bucs man Thabiso Sesane. Igugu Lekapa are coached by a close friend of Rhulani Mokwena in Sinethemba Badela, who is a former Black Poison player. He will be eager to make a name for himself and some of his players by knocking the mighty Orlando Pirates out of the cup, and with Mokwena’s Downs having just beaten Bucs, one wonders if Badela won’t be making a phone call to the ex-Pirates interim coach for some valuable pointers.

Key battle Erasmus v Sesane

For Pirates, it is not 100% clear who will lead the line in this match because of the plethora of options at Riveiro’s disposal. Erasmus got the nod against Mamelodi Sundowns, but Terrence Dzvukamanja impressed against Marumo Gallants a week earlier. Ndumiso Mabena finally made his ‘second debut’ for Bucs over the weekend and then you have Bienvenu Eva Nga, Evidence Makgopa and Cameroonian striker Souaibou Marou too. Assuming it’s Erasmus playing down the middle, he won’t have any easy time against on-loan Pirates centre-back, Sesane. The latter made a breakthrough at the Houghton-based outfit in the 2020/21 season, appearing seven times under coach Josef Zinnbauer, including winning Man of the Match in a league fixture against Maritzburg. He has been outstanding this season at the heart of the backline and was in the line-up for All Stars’ 0-0 draw against Pretoria Callies on Sunday. Erasmus has only scored once in his last seven matches, in the 4-1 thrashing of Stellenbosch FC as Monnapule Saleng found him in the box before a sharp touch and finish. In his five outings since the post-World Cup resumption, he has had just two shots on target, the goal against Stellies and one other against Cape Town City. He may see the match against All Stars FC as a chance to get his groove back, but he may struggle to get much change out of Sesane. Of course, this assumes that Pirates allow the latter to play against his parent club.