Posted in News, Team News on Mar 19, 2021.
When Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates played out a seven-goal thriller on 24 April 1971 to mark the first official league meeting between the sides, which co-incidentally was won by Amakhosi, few would have expected the rivalry between the two teams would have grown to the epic proportions that it is today. Half a century later, Chiefs and Pirates are still at it and township supremacy is up for grabs when the two teams meet at FNB Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The game will also have a number of historical connotations as they are meeting for a 100th time in a league clash.
The fact that Sunday’s game will be the 100th official DStv Premiership meeting between the teams, will make both teams hungrier to want to go down in the annals of history as the team that won the centenary league game between the teams.
All week long the talk all over the country as well as online platforms has been about Sunday’s game. As many know that form flies out of the window in this game, the late former Chiefs midfielder John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu demonstrated that in the 2002-03, when Chiefs defeated title chasing Orlando Pirates 2-0 in a home league game on 15 March 2003.
With the old cliché ringing true that form goes out of the window when these two teams who overall rivalry now spans 50 years meet, is very true and history has shown that Chiefs have further incentive having already been defeated by Pirates in both legs of the MTN 8 Semi-finals and the sides first league clash this season, Gavin Hunt and his charges will be looking to avoid a loss and pick up three points which will lift them up the table. The importance of this game for both teams cannot be stressed enough as Chiefs have ambitions of finishing as high as possible on the log, while Pirates still harbour hopes of chasing down league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
The entire focus over the weekend will be this 100th league clash between Chiefs and Pirates. Amakhosi hold an advantage over Pirates having won 40 of their previous 99 games against their rivals, while Pirates have 23 wins with 36 games ending in a draw. Chiefs will be looking to get their historic dominance over Pirates in league games up and running again, with what would be both a morale boosting, and historical win should they walk away with the three points.
This game also sees the teams meet for a 50th time in a league game in the PSL era since the formation of the league ahead of the 1996-97 season. Chiefs, Pirates, SuperSport and Sundowns are the only teams remaining in the top-flight who have been campaigning in all 25 seasons since its inception. Pirates will become the second team in the PSL era who Chiefs would have met for a 50th time. They played their 50th league game in the PSL era against SuperSport in a 1-1 draw on the 20th February.
Two current Chiefs players stand on various milestones for Amakhosi in derbies. Both Leonardo Castro and Daniel Cardoso have both scored 4 goals in all competitions against Pirates. With Castro in doubt for the game, should Cardoso find the net, he will overtake Castro and earn the title of Chiefs’ top goal scorer in the PSL era in all competitions against Pirates. Another player with 4 goals in the PSL era for Chiefs is former midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala.
Overall, this will be the 173rd meeting in all competitions since 1970 between the sides. Of these games, Chiefs have 69 wins to Pirates 44, with 54 games ending in a draw. There have also been five games which have been abandoned.
Sunday’s game will kick off at 15:00 and will be shown both SuperSport Channel 202 and SABC 1.
The fact that Sunday’s game will be the 100th official DStv Premiership meeting between the teams, will make both teams hungrier to want to go down in the annals of history as the team that won the centenary league game between the teams.
All week long the talk all over the country as well as online platforms has been about Sunday’s game. As many know that form flies out of the window in this game, the late former Chiefs midfielder John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu demonstrated that in the 2002-03, when Chiefs defeated title chasing Orlando Pirates 2-0 in a home league game on 15 March 2003.
With the old cliché ringing true that form goes out of the window when these two teams who overall rivalry now spans 50 years meet, is very true and history has shown that Chiefs have further incentive having already been defeated by Pirates in both legs of the MTN 8 Semi-finals and the sides first league clash this season, Gavin Hunt and his charges will be looking to avoid a loss and pick up three points which will lift them up the table. The importance of this game for both teams cannot be stressed enough as Chiefs have ambitions of finishing as high as possible on the log, while Pirates still harbour hopes of chasing down league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
The entire focus over the weekend will be this 100th league clash between Chiefs and Pirates. Amakhosi hold an advantage over Pirates having won 40 of their previous 99 games against their rivals, while Pirates have 23 wins with 36 games ending in a draw. Chiefs will be looking to get their historic dominance over Pirates in league games up and running again, with what would be both a morale boosting, and historical win should they walk away with the three points.
This game also sees the teams meet for a 50th time in a league game in the PSL era since the formation of the league ahead of the 1996-97 season. Chiefs, Pirates, SuperSport and Sundowns are the only teams remaining in the top-flight who have been campaigning in all 25 seasons since its inception. Pirates will become the second team in the PSL era who Chiefs would have met for a 50th time. They played their 50th league game in the PSL era against SuperSport in a 1-1 draw on the 20th February.
Two current Chiefs players stand on various milestones for Amakhosi in derbies. Both Leonardo Castro and Daniel Cardoso have both scored 4 goals in all competitions against Pirates. With Castro in doubt for the game, should Cardoso find the net, he will overtake Castro and earn the title of Chiefs’ top goal scorer in the PSL era in all competitions against Pirates. Another player with 4 goals in the PSL era for Chiefs is former midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala.
Overall, this will be the 173rd meeting in all competitions since 1970 between the sides. Of these games, Chiefs have 69 wins to Pirates 44, with 54 games ending in a draw. There have also been five games which have been abandoned.
Sunday’s game will kick off at 15:00 and will be shown both SuperSport Channel 202 and SABC 1.
