A rivalry spanning over half a century will be renewed on Saturday afternoon at Orlando Stadium in Soweto as Kaizer Chiefs travel to face their township rivals and old foes Orlando Pirates. The two teams meet in the first leg of the MTN8 semifinals.
Chiefs and Pirates have a long and storied history and are the two most successful teams in this competition with both sides having won this trophy a combined 24 times. Chiefs have lifted the trophy 15 times – the most by any teams and Pirates have won it 9 times.
Chiefs turned around a run of nine games in all competitions last season with victory over Pirates in the Telkom Knockout Cup quarterfinals. Amakhosi then also managed to defeat Pirates in both league games last season and will be looking to continue that run when they face Pirates over the two legs of the MTN8 finals.
Through the history of this tournament, the sides have clashed 20 times previously, with their first meeting coming in the 1972 final a game, won 3-2 by Pirates. In 1974 the tournament was played in two phases at the start of the season and the end of the campaign. Pirates defeated Chiefs in the semifinals of the opening tournament with both legs of the semifinals abandoned – the first at 2-2 and the second with Pirates 2-1 up they were eventually awarded the game. While Chiefs exacted revenge defeating Pirates 6-2 on aggregate in the closing tournament final, winning the first leg at home 2-1 and the away leg 4-1.
Of their previous 20 clashes in this tournament, Chiefs have won 7 games with Pirates winning 8 and a further five games ending in a draw. A mammoth 58 goals have been scored in these games at a rate of 2,90 goals per game with Chiefs netting 31 goals at 1.55 per game and Pirates 27 at 1.35 goals per game. None of the previous clashes between the sides in this competition have previously required a penalty shoot-out.
In the PSL era this will be the eighth meeting (and sixth tie) between the sides in the MTN8 and their first since the 2014-15 final when Chiefs defeated Pirates 1-0 in Durban. Chiefs’ other win over Pirates was in the 2001-02 semifinals. A solitary goal from Kenny Niemach gave Chiefs a 1-0 win. Pirates won the other three clashes over two legs in the 2010-11 and 2013-14 semifinals winning 2-1 on aggregate on each occasion, as well as the 2011-12 final, winning 1-0.
For Chiefs this game represents the 13th time that they are in an MTN 8 semifinal in the PSL era since 2000-01 when the tournament was first held. Chiefs have prevailed on seven occasions while losing in the semifinals five times. Since a two-legged semifinal was introduced in 2008-09, Chiefs are in the last four for a 9th time. They have managed to reach the final four times previously in 2008-09, 2011-12, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
This will be the 170th meeting in all competitions between the sides, with Chiefs having won 69 games, Pirates 41, with 54 draws and a further 5 games have been abandoned. In addition, this game will be the 70th cup game between Chiefs and Pirates since they first met in the 3rd place game in the Rogue Cup in 1970, a game Pirates won 6-4. Of the previous 69 cup meetings between the teams, Chiefs have won 30 games, Pirates 19 and 17 have been draws. There have also been 3 abandoned games while Chiefs have also won 4 games on penalties.
Chiefs were last in the MTN8 final in 2015 when they lost to Ajax Cape Town. The Glamour Boys will be looking for a positive result to take with them to the second leg the following week.
Kick-off for the game is at 15:00 and will broadcast live on SuperSport DStv Channel 202 and SABC 1, with the live build up starting at 14:00 SuperSport. SABC Radio and @kaizerchiefs on twitter will also carry live commentary the game.
SOURCED FROM KAIZER CHIEFS WEBSITE.
