Posted in Features, News on Nov 05, 2021.
It will be exactly 49 years to the day when Kaizer Chiefs hosts their eternal rivals Orlando Pirates in a DStv Premiership game at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon, that Chiefs had managed back in 1971 to complete a league double over by Pirates by defeating them 2-1 on 6 November of that year. That game on the final day of the 1971 campaign was the first season that Chiefs and Pirates had met in the top-flight league campaign, followed on Chiefs’ 4-3 triumph at home earlier in the season. As the two rivals get to clash again in what will be the 101st league meeting between we take a look at some of the individuals who will be reaching various milestones in this game.
Stuart Baxter
The meeting against Orlando Pirates will see Baxter become just the second Chiefs coach in the history of the Club to be in charge of Amakhosi in 100 league games in the PSL era which started in 1996-97. The only other coach in this time to have stood in a century of league games for Chiefs was Muhsin Ertugral. The Turkish born mentor had two spells at Amakhosi. His first between 1999 and 2002 and his second from 2007 to 2009, where he managed to be in charge of 160 league games for Chiefs. For Baxter, this is his seventh league Soweto Derby meeting against Pirates.
Should he avoid defeat, he will be the first Chiefs coach in the PSL era not to taste defeat in 7 league games against Pirates. Currently, he and Ernst Middendorp (W3 D3) are both six league games without losing to Pirates. Victory for Chiefs will also see Baxter defeat Pirates for the third time in league action which will make him the Chiefs coach in the PSL era with the joint-most number of league wins against Pirates along with Middendorp. For Baxter, overall this is his 10th meeting against Pirates in all competitions as Chiefs coach. His record reads W3 D5 L1 – his sole defeat coming in an MTN 8 semi-final first-leg clash in the 2013-14 season.
Bernard Parker
After becoming Chiefs’ all-time top scorer in all competitions in the PSL era with a brace in a 2-1 league triumph over SuperSport recently which took his tally to 60 goals for Club, the Chiefs skipper will be looking to score again and with his league tally of goals for Chiefs on 47. He will be targeting to reach Siphiwe Tshabalala’s PSL era record of 49 league goals for Amakhosi. This game could also see Parker feature in his 29th game in all competitions for Chiefs against Pirates with only Tshabalala having since 1996-97 faced Pirates more times. Should Parker feature it will see him face Pirates in a league game for a 20th time, the only player with more league games for Chiefs against Pirates in Siphiwe Tshabalala who faced them 22 times. Itumeleng Khune has played in 20 league games against Pirates.
Itumeleng Khune
In the season that he made his debut for Chiefs in 2007-08, Itumeleng Khune featured in a thrilling game that ended 2-2 against Pirates in Durban in November 2007. Despite having no big game-playing experience, he did enough on that Saturday afternoon on 24 November 2007.
Khune has overall played in 27 games across various competitions in official Derby games against Pirates. He also has come up against them in 20 league games. Khune featured in four of the six league games when Stuart Baxter was last in charge of Chiefs. He kept two clean-sheets and conceded just two goals. He has down the years made telling contributions to Chiefs during their successes in this biggest of games.
