No excuses for Bucs, Amakhosi

After their mandatory kick-about with Tottenham Hotspur, the Soweto giants meet on Thursday night in the most meaningful clash of the Vodacom Challenge, with both Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates fully aware that the outcome could set the tone for the season ahead.

Amakhosi emerged with the better result against Spurs in the opening match last weekend, but Pirates will also claim moral victory from their 1-1 draw with the English side on Tuesday, given that the Buccaneers came from behind and were also unduly denied what looked a legitimate goal.

Thursday’s clash at Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Stadium (8.15pm) should settle the debate as to who between the Soweto giants acquitted themselves the best against Harry Redknapp’s side.

Redknapp’s team, it must be said, have looked anything but the side who reached the Uefa Champions league quarterfinals last season.

Spurs’ excuse have been that they are rusty given that this is only pre-season, but the absurdity of domestic football is that neither Vladimir Vermezovic nor Julio Leal can pull out that card in case of failure on Thursday night.

The coaches of Chiefs and Pirates know all too well that the Soweto Derby is considered a game that cannot be lost – even if it’s as fatuous as is this occasion.

Victory for either team will secure a place in Saturday’s final with Spurs, but the fact that tickets have long been pre-sold for the Coca-Cola Park showdown is an indication that this evening’s clash shouldn’t really matter as the Doornfontein venue is expected to sell out irrespective who triumphs in the Windy City.

That confirms the assertion that there shouldn’t be losers in pre-season football, but that’s always unlikely when the teams involved are SA’s biggest rivals, where some of their passionate fans are known to go to the extreme of sulking for days or even becoming suicidal, if results don’t go their way.

Similarly, coaches can be judged, unfairly on how their teams perform in an off-season Derby, and it is Pirates’ Leal who will be under greater scrutiny as he undertakes his first encounter against Amakhosi.

Bucs’ Brazilian coach made a more than impressive debut in Tuesday’s clash against Spurs. He kept the shape of Ruud Krol’s treble winners and his charges didn’t panic in spite of the English side striking the first blow. Even after Leal had rung the changes in the second half, Pirates played with flair and authority that made a mockery of their coach’s statement that he had worked with them “for only 13 days”.

One of Leal’s many promises after replacing Krol was that he would turn Bucs into entertainers and, while there was some nice inter-passing in their Mbombela clash with the Londoners, some would question the logic of showboating when the score was 1-1. Such a scoreline on Thrusday would necessitate penalties, deeming any theatrics absolutely futile.

Pirates may have played well on Tuesday, but the advantage has to be with Chiefs given that they have a more settled coach in Vermezovic, who paved Amakhosi’s way to the final against Manchester City in the previous Derby decider in PE two years ago.

Amakhosi went on to lift the competition, beating the big-spending City, and with speculation rife that this year’s edition of the Challenge is the last, the stakes are even higher.

The victors are likely to enter Saturday’s final at Coca-Cola Park confident that Spurs can be beaten, as Chiefs have already done so and Pirates came close.

But what happens to the losers? Well, an uncomfortable next few weeks would lie ahead.