Last season’s champions might be rudderless but their ship is not in any danger of sinking
Ntuthuko Maphumulo
Orlando Pirates begin the defence of their BP Top 8 title against Supersport United at their new hunting ground of Johannesburg stadium on Saturday.
Pirates are still without a coach but will be hoping that caretaker Augusto Palacios, who helped them win their first silverware before the start of the season, will do it again.
Only the eight teams that finish at the top of the Premier Soccer League are eligible for this R1-million knockout competition and this year’s entries have a fine pedigree.
Pirates are this year’s Charity Cup winners while Supersport are the People’s Bank Challenge champions, and both will be looking to add to their trophy cabinets and bank accounts.
Both teams have been involved in various tournaments during the brief off-season, meaning their players are fit enough to compete.
Orlando Pirates public relations officer Thabiso Parkies said: “We respect Supersport. They are a good team, but they know us. We walloped them in a league game 6-2.”
Supersport public relations officer David Skosana said: “Soccer lovers must expect a major upset this weekend, for this is a revenge game and we want to make it to the finals.”
Orlando Pirates have won this cup eight times, while Supersport have never even made it to the finals.
The other Top 8 game this weekend will be between Sundowns and Free State Stars. Ted Dumitri will be looking to help Sundowns regain the winning touch that captured them the PSL title three times in a row. Sundowns have only managed to win this cup twice in their four attempts of reaching the final.
Free State Stars have been in the final once when they were still known as Qwa Qwa Stars and lost to Orlando Pirates 4-1 on aggregate over two legs in 1996.
Next weekend Kaizer Chiefs will make the great trek to the Northern Province, where they will face Ria Stars at the Royal Bafokeng Palace, while Jomo Cosmos will take on Santos, who recently won the Bob Save Super Bowl.
Santos also won the Super Cup contested among the Cape Town sides and will be led by new coach Gordon Igesund, winner of the PSL and Top 8 last season with Orlando Pirates.
Kaizer Chiefs, who last won the cup in 1994, have participated in this competition since its inception, winning it 11 times. The Amakhosi need to win this game at all costs after they lost to Ria Stars in the Rothmans Cup last season. The yellow and red cards given out last weekend will be null and void for this competition.
Ria Stars will be looking to at least win something in this season so as to give the Northern Province supporters something to shout about.
They will hope new signing Tony Illodigwe regains the goal-scoring touch he had during his spell at African Wanderers. When he was at Kaizer Chiefs he failed to impress the coach.
Ria Stars will go into next week’s match with confidence as they have already beaten the glamour boys in a cup tournament this season, but Kaizer Chiefs public relations officer Putco Mafani seemed unfazed.
“I wonder who we are going to meet in the final?” was his optimistic comment but Chiefs will have to get a formidable striker after failing to score in the Charity Cup despite all the chances provided by their midfielders.
Jomo Cosmos have participated in this competition for some time now and will be hoping to break their run of bad luck. The last time they were in a final was in 1991, which they lost to Kaizer Chiefs 4-3.
This season there will be no two-leg matches and the winner of each game will be decided in 90 minutes.
If the game ends in a draw the teams will then go into extra time, where the golden goal rule will be applied. If the deadlock is still not broken by that time, there will be a penalty shoot-out.
The winner of the final in September will walk away with a cheque of R1-million.