Orlando Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has shrugged off suggestions that they are favourites for Saturday’s Nedbank Cup final, instead referring to Kaizer Chiefs as the team to watch because of their history in the competition.
It’s the second meeting for the two Soweto giants who also battled it out last weekend, even though it was in the Betway Premiership, with the Buccaneers rallying from a goal down to emerge narrow 2-1 victors.
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During the Nedbank Cup final presser in Durban on Wednesday afternoon, Ncikazi did not take kindly to his side being deemed as favourites because of their busy schedule this term as well as the last cup final (MTN8) meeting between the sides back in 2014.
“We know we playing against a very good team, Kaizer Chiefs,” Ncikazi said.
“The history of the two teams says, they’ve played 23 times since the inception of this competition. We’ve won it 10 times; they’ve won it 13 times.
“Currently, they’ve scored 14 goals. I think they are the top scorers they’ve only conceded two, so it’s not going to be an easy match, but as usual, we will play this match to try and win.
“Please allow me to make a small correction, we not favourites! Being a favourite is very subject. It depends on how you look at it.
“One, Chiefs were the last winners in a cup final that we last played between both teams. Secondly, Chiefs are a well-rested team if you look at how many we have played. We have played 48 games, they have played 34 games.
“So, we are 14 games more than what they’ve played, so they are your well-rested team.
“Coming into this game, we were playing yesterday, and Chiefs had a whole week of preparation, so we don’t want to fall into the fallacy of thinking we are favourites.
“We are not, but Kaizer Chiefs are.”
