When Amakhosi fans quietly back Bucs

I“ohlab’eyakhe akanqatshelwa”, which essentially means that whoever slaughters his own cattle may not be stopped. Instead, the community gathers and enjoys the feast. Now, you might be wondering how this relates to football, right? Well, let’s dive into it because it’s a perfect analogy for what’s happening at Orlando Pirates these days.

The Soweto giants seem to be stuck in a rut, and it’s all because of a classic football blunder – coach Jose Riveiro decided to “fix what wasn’t broken” when he made changes to his team for the Caf Champions League first-leg qualifier against Jwaneng Galaxy.

Now, don’t get me wrong;

Reveiro probably had good intentions. He might have thought about giving some of his players a break, considering they had a demanding start to the season with a packed schedule.

Plus, there was that crucial league match against runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns just a few days later. So, you could argue that there were legitimate reasons behind his decision.

But here’s where things went awry. No offence to Jwaneng, but they weren’t exactly football giants in the eyes of Pirates fans, and probably the technical team too.

And what happened in both of those games is a story for another day, but let’s just say that after that loss to Jwaneng, the Pirates team lost their rhythm and subsequently fell to Sundowns as well.

Now, Riveiro finds himself in a rather tight spot. He’s facing a critical test – he has to win the MTN8 final against Sundowns; otherwise he might find himself wondering why the cat climbed a tree when it knew it couldn’t get back down.

And if Riveiro didn’t already know, our fans have a pretty short memory span. The fact that he won a cup double last season might as well be ancient history.

To make matters even trickier, he’s up against none other than Sundowns, the team he’s supposed to challenge in both cups and the league. Losing to them twice in a row won’t sit well with the supporters, that’s for sure.

So, in football, as in life, sometimes it’s best not to mess with what’s working just fine. Let’s hope Riveiro and Pirates can find their groove again and serve up a feast of football that their fans will savour.

This time around, Pirates are not just carrying the hopes of their die-hard “Ghost” supporters, they’ve also seemingly got a good deal of Amakhosi fans behind them, a football twist that’s as rare as a unicorn sighting.

I witnessed something truly remarkable a few weeks back during the semifinal second-leg match between Pirates and Stellenbosch FC at Orlando Stadium.

When Stellenbosch scored, a die-hard Chiefs fan in the crowd couldn’t contain his excitement.

He stood up, ready to celebrate, but guess what? His fellow Amakhosi comrades swiftly pulled him back down and sternly gestured to him to sit down.

Well, it turns out that on that particular day, Chiefs fans were rallying behind the Buccaneers.

Why, you ask? Because they firmly believed that Pirates had what it takes to put a stop to Sundowns in the final showdown.