Soweto derby: round two
For Fortune Makaringe, playing for a club that you grew up supporting is very special, particularly in a big game like the Soweto derby against Kaizer Chiefs.
The midfielder was a staunch supporter of the Buccaneers long before he swapped his Maritzburg United jersey for the black and white of Pirates at the start of the season.
So far, he has been getting a lot of game time at the Buccaneers, but they have not been able to get the results they want.
Last weekend, Pirates were knocked out of the Telkom Knockout by Amakhosi, before going on to play to a goalless draw against Maritzburg United in an Absa Premiership game on Tuesday evening.
Ahead of another clash with Chiefs at FNB Stadium tomorrow afternoon, this time in the league, Makaringe says is all about supporting each other.
“For me at the moment it’s not a personal thing because I understand that I’m a Buccaneer, so it’s not all about me, but the whole Pirates family and my teammates. So, to be in this team with my brothers who support me means a lot to me,” said the midfielder.
“It is something that we have in the team, supporting one another. We are going into this game knowing that we have to give our best like we do in every other game so that we can get the result that we want.”
With the Buccaneers going into this fixture having already tasted defeat at the hands of Amakhosi just a week ago, Makaringe hopes they will just take the positives from that game in order to do well in this fixture.
For me as a Buccaneer and for the whole Orlando Pirates family it is – to go out there and do what we always do which is to give out our best performances and the result will take care of itself,” he added.
“There are always positives in every match that we play and that is something that we always work on so that we can improve as a team. The mere fact that we were able to score (in the derby), is something that we need to push ourselves to do because if we can’t score we won’t get the maximum result that we want. We have to give a top performance and score.”