A delicious serving on the day, but...
They dished up a delicious derby, stuffed with scrumptious goals —a first-half double by Ashley du Preez and Monnapule Saleng’s twin strikes on either side of half-time plus a sizzling Thabiso Lebitso screamer — which lit up the full Calabash and gave Orlando Pirates derby glory.
The sensational end-to-end, five-goal thriller saw the Sea Robbers complete a double over Kaizer Chiefs for the first time in the Premier Soccer League era and sail to second spot, nine points behind reigning champions Mamelodi Sundowns (at the time of writing).
That the sold-out signs went up — albeit hours before kickoff — affirms that these clubs remain special to millions of South Africans.
However, the exhilarating affair should not conceal the cold facts. Both clubs should have a tinge of regret that while the blockbuster fixture hasn’t lost it’s crowdpulling lustre, it has over the years become a meaningless match in the title run.
The powerhouses of Soweto have stood a decade long distance away from the league title.
It should be unthinkable to refer to Pirates and Chiefs as giants of the domestic game only in name. The sad reality is that they’ve been riding on reputation, having surrendered the claim of championship contenders. They have been truant from competing. For their part, Pirates have been able to assuage the 14-year absence of the holy grail by adding the glitter of silverware in between, and are still in contention to defend the Nedbank Cup.
Though the Chiefs trophy cabinet houses a glistening collection of spoils, Amakhosi have reduced it to a cobweb-infested habitat, barren of a crown since 2015.
This is the third year with neither side showing serious signs of getting closer to challenging the Sundowns hegemony.
There are some positives, such as two development graduates progressing to the professional ranks, Wandile Duba and Relebohile Mofokeng who scored for Chiefs and Pirates, respectively, in midweek.
Pirates have a decent technical team. Jose Riveiro has been a breath of fresh air and a cut above the pedestrian European coaches who’ve populated these shores.
He seems determined to restore Bucs to league race challengers.
Riveiro moved from irritated to excited in a matter of 72 hours. “One of our worse games ever,” is how Riveiro described the 1-1 draw with Cape Town Spurs. “Difficult to swallow, difficult to understand because we were not aggressive in the pressing, we just allowed them to run comfortable.”
It was the cry of a man looking for a response. Respond they did, yesterday. “It was a nice derby, five goals, I’m so proud of the guys tonight. During this time together, we’ve proved that on the day we can compete against anyone. Our best performance cannot be so different from our worst performance. That is where we are now.”
“What a game Phums, what a game,” said Chiefs caretaker coach Cavin Johnson to SuperSport’s Phumlani Msibi post-match. “We had the three points, we had the one point and now we have no point,” he said after watching Chiefs lose the match they led 2-1 at the break.
The army of Amakhosi faithful will wonder why the Glamour Boys can produce a top-notch performance only on derby day. The sooner Chiefs bring in a new coach — whom chairman Kaizer Motaung told me will be in charge in pre-season — the better.
Since joining Pirates in June 2022, Riveiro has crossed swords with three Chiefs coaches —
Arthur Zwane. Molefi Ntseki and now Johnson.
Can you spell instability?
Hiring a competent technical team, beefing up scouting, getting a higher grade technical director, that’s the way to go.
This is a weekend with two major matches on either side of the equator. In the south, yesterday spared us the pain of watching a dreary dead rubber battle for bragging rights. In the north, a gigantic game between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield tonight is a potential title race decider.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos and his assistant Helman Mkhalele and Safa president Danny Jordaan were among the 94,000-strong crowd that converged at the Calabash, and were served derby delicacy.
Hopefully next season’s instalments will have an impact in the outcome of the league title chase.
Hopefully next season’s instalments will have an impact in the outcome of the league title chase