Gerald Combrinck
ORLANDO Pirates take the ever growing reputation of South African soccer a step further this weekend when they travel to Nigeria to face BCC Lions in an African Champions Cup second round first leg game.
To say that Pirates will be stepping into the “lion’s den” is an understatement, because there is no doubt that the “Buccaneers” will be introduced to the dark side of African football in a country where winning is a matter of life and death.
But Pirates have proved they have both the strength and character to overcome a side bidding to become the first Nigerian club to win Africa’s premier soccer title.
Jomo Cosmos have thus far been the only South African side to progress past the second round of the competition when, in 1993, they advanced to the semifinal of the Cup Winners Cup, known as the Nelson Mandela Cup.
Last season Sundowns in the Champions Cup, and Witbank Aces in the Cup Winners Cup, both bowed out early in the competition. Sundowns players rate their trip, to play Vita Club in Zaire, as possibly the worst in their careers, as they were intimidated from the day they arrived until they left.
And Pirates have been assured by former Nigerian national coach Clemens Westerhof, who now coaches Sundowns, that they are in line for the same treatment.
“Conditions will be against Pirates from the start. The best they can do is to get an early goal,” said Westerhof.
An important player in the Pirates line-up will be goalkeeper William Okpara who is Nigerian and played against most of the opposition.
“They are a hard physical side,” Okpara said.
This season Pirates have looked awesome in all departments, but the sudden loss of influential defender Mark Fish has been a major blow, as he was sure to play a major part in Pirates’ African Cup campaign.