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09/05/2008 10:31
Tumo Mokone
So it's Soweto derby time again... and we are supposed to be excited. But seriously, what's at stake in this match, apart from the solitary fact that it is a league fixture between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates?
Okay, the winner may finish in the top eight in the standings at the end of the season. This shows the depths to which the biggest football fixture in South Africa has deteriorated. The Soweto Derby no longer has any bearing on the title chase and does not even represent the best of South African football because neither of the two teams are part of what is exciting right now about the game in this country.
There are far more better things happening in the PSL, like the three-horse title race between log-leaders Ajax Cape Town and chasers SuperSport United and Santos.
Slight advantage
This weekend the biggest soccer match for SA will be taking place in Cairo, where unheralded Platinum Stars will be looking to become the first club from southern Africa to eliminate Al Ahly from the African Champions League.
Stars, arguably the smallest club in the PSL, travel to Africa's biggest soccer club with a slight advantage after beating Ahly 2-1 in the first leg. They need all the support they can get back home. But their heroics notwithstanding, the hearts and minds of the SA soccer fraternity, including the media, would be focused on Mafikeng, where the Soweto Derby will be contested.
If Platinum Stars are on the brink of giving SA a historical victory over the mighty Egyptians, a feat which would also attract new respect for South African football, why is the country captivated by a tussle in which there would be no real winner? It appears we are hell-bent on supporting mediocrity over so much that is positive and urgent about our game, all because of the history of the Chiefs v Pirates derby.
Going flat out
When I put these points to my colleagues at work they say I am being a spoilsport. Some accused me of being bitter because Pirates are not winning. Of course it is a sore point that Pirates don't want to win - in fact they have not won anything for six seasons. Just to put the woeful performance of this club in perspective, Pirates did not score a single goal the entire month of April!
What makes me more sick is that, as reluctant as they are about achieving anything, the Pirates players will be going flat out on Saturday to beat Chiefs. They will also be prepared to put a few rules of the game to a test, just in case the referee is asleep so that they can win the game against all odds. Unfortunately all the hard work, the intelligence, mental sharpness, physical conditioning and the stamina the Bucs players will show on Saturday will be put to rest again until the next Soweto Derby.
Gets my vote
Chiefs on the other hand are not that impressive. They are ninth on the log, and they do not have strikers. Their top player last season, Kaizer Motaung jnr, appears like a spent force, while Mabhuti Khenyeza is blooming late in his first season with the club. Ironically, the saving grace for Amakhosi has been their young goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune who is having a super time in his first season as the team's No 1 goalkeeper.
So brilliant has Khune been between the posts that Chiefs have conceded the least number of goals so far in the championship. He is also the reason why Chiefs won a Cup title this season - the Telkom Knockout - in December. Realising their short supply in talent, Chiefs just dragged the matches to extra-time during the Cup, hoping Khune would do the business in the penalty shootout. He did exactly that, including in the final where he stopped three spot kicks by Mamelodi Sundowns. Khune gets my vote for PSL Player of the Season. It's a shame that a goalkeeper should outshine infield players like that.
His closest rival, ironically, is a Pirates player - midfielder Teko Modise. The nippy playmaker had a brilliant season for both Bucs and Bafana Bafana, winning several man of the match awards for both teams. These included the player of the tournament after the 2007 Cosafa Cup in which he led South Africa to a fantastic run and triumph in the southern championship.
Sucker for pain
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and so has the form of Modise in the past two months. In fact, his slump mirrors that of his team - which could mean Pirates are a one-man team. It is not clear if he will be available, as injuries and fatigue continue to take their toll.
It's either team's derby to take. I will put my money on Pirates to win, because I am a sucker for pain like that. However, if these two teams conspire to play another drawn match, it will be their loss because South African football will progress without them.
Tumo writes exclusively for Sport24.
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