Khune longs for winning feeling
Soweto derby
The fact that Kaizer Chiefs haven’t beaten rivals Orlando Pirates in the league since 2014 is something that’s not sitting well with the Amakhosi camp.
Chiefs have gone seven league games without victory over their sworn enemies. Pirates have won two, both by a 3-1 scoreline and there have been five draws in their Absa Premiership encounters since the 2014/15 season.
It’s with this in mind that Chiefs skipper Itumeleng Khune said yesterday that they were highly motivated ahead of Saturday’s clash at the FNB Stadium (3.30pm). “It’s not nice knowing that the last time we won in the derby was in [December] 2014,” Khune admitted at a joint press conference at the PSL offices in Parktown, Johannesburg.
“Now we are in 2018 and it’s been like four years without a victory against our rivals, but Saturday is going to be a different ball game.” Khune’s spot, however, is not guaranteed this time after Chiefs’ second choice Virgil Vries produced two penalty saves to guide them to a shootout victory over Black Leopards in the Telkom Knockout last 16, also played at the FNB Stadium at the weekend. The match had finished 1-1 after extra time. If Bafana Bafana’s number one comes back into the picture and gets the jersey back, he would be making his 26th Soweto derby appearance. His current tally of 25 is only second behind Siphiwe Tshabalala, who notched up 31 before departing a few months ago to join Turkish side, Erzurumspor.
Khune, however, will have to play better than in most previous games against Pirates to keep them at bay. Statistics show that he’s got only seven clean sheets in his 25 games in the big clash and has mostly conceded, at times even three in one match, like in the last one which Pirates won 3-1 in March. Meanwhile, Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas has some injury worries to contend with just a couple of days before the big match.
Not only is Lebogang Manyama ruled out for six weeks after a car crash recently, but attacking players Khama Billiat (back injury), Leonardo Castro (ankle) and Dax Andrianarimanana (calf strain) may not feature. They are facing late fitness tests.
‘ ‘ It’s not nice knowing the last time we won derby was in 2014