Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has praised work done by his Kaizer Chiefs counterpart Fernando Da Cruz ahead of the upcoming Soweto Derby on Saturday.
Pirates are the hosts for this fixture at FNB Stadium, set to kick off at 15:30 a a sold-out FNB Stadium. Both sides are coming off wins in their last outings in the Carling Knockout Cup, where they both scored three goals each against their respective opponents.
They are also both unbeaten in the league so far with the defending champions in second spot on the table with 22 points from eight matches, a point behind current leaders Mamelodi Sundowns who have played a game more. Chiefs, meanwhile, are fifth with 14 points from eight games after five draws in their last six outings.
“I think being favourites like I said, doesn’t give you the fact that you are going to win the game because football is open,” said Ouaddou in the derby presser.
“And we know that Kaizer Chiefs is a big club, big fans. We are a big club as well. We are two of the three biggest clubs in Africa, of course in a derby we are not looking at the classification in the log. It’s something different.
“You have to bring on the table the fighting spirit, the proudness to represent your fans, and they are doing well.”
Despite the criticism his opposition coach has received, Ouaddou stated the Frenchman has done well at Amakhosi so far and has an “interesting game model”.
“They are doing well because a lot of people can speak, a lot people can criticise, but if you see they are not losing games, they have an interesting game model,” he added.
“We are doing well as well. So what we want is to give a very good image of football during the derby.”