Former Orlando Pirates coach Gordon Igesund says it’s difficult to anticipate what will transpire in the Carling Black Label Cup, that is set to take place on Saturday at the FNB Stadium. The tournament comprises four teams that will face off in the semi-finals, before the final comes about later on in the day.
AmaZulu and Mamelodi Sundowns will kick off the tournament at 9:30 AM, before Kaizer Chiefs take on Orlando Pirates at 12:00 PM.
Igesund, who was in the Buccaneers’ dugout between 2000 and 2001, says both semi-finals will be the finals before the final, because all teams are capable and want to advance to the last stage.
“It’s a very exciting one for the Carling Black Label Cup, because of the fact that there are four very good teams there. Anyone of those teams playing each other on any given day, can win the match,” Igesund told ThisIsFootball.Africa.
“I mean Pirates can beat Chiefs, Chiefs can beat Pirates, AmaZulu can beat Sundowns, Sundowns can beat AmaZulu. So it’s really a lot to play for.”
“But when you talk about the derby, the derby overshadows all those games because of its history. I’ve been involved in many derbies before, I can tell you the form book goes out of the window, it’s about the players on the field on the day, how they handle the situation, how the big occasion gets into them.”
“I think again, normally sometimes the derbies are very down, players don’t want to make mistakes, they are scared to be the ones to make a mistake. Sometimes it just looks like they are just happy to play for penalties.”
Two weeks ago, Amakhosi beat the Buccaneers with a 1-0 scoreline in the DStv Premiership match, and the former Bafana Bafana mentor says that was a curtain raiser for this clash. He also believes that Pirates won’t be coming to the game to seek revenge.
“But I think times have changed in the fact that Chiefs are going for it, and I think this will be no different. Chiefs and Pirates recently played where [Chiefs] won and I think that was a good curtain raiser for this semi-final against each other,” he added.
“I don’t think Pirates think about ‘we need to get revenge’, because there’s too much going on about getting revenge. What do you want revenge for? You just need to win the game. They won’t even remember that they lost the game.”
“They put it out of their minds and the coach won’t even talk about that. I don’t think it’s about trying to get revenge, it’s about keeping yourself fit going to the game.”
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