On Thursday the 15th of may 2012 I tweeted the statement "What happened to the vibe we use to have before derbies 5 years back?...... It seems like nobody cares". That was a concern for me,I was worried that people have lost interest in the derby,but yet I didn't know who to blame; the teams for playing boring/direct football,the PSL for marketing the games poorly or us supporters for not being enthusiastic anymore when it comes to the domestic league.
Saturday the 17th saw arguably the biggest soccer match on the african continent take place at the world class soccer city in SOWETO. With 87,171 people in attendance of this showpiece,the stage was set and any result less than what we witnessed was going to be unacceptable.
Over the past few years we have been served with boring and draw derbies. Ex Chiefs and pirates players said the game this days don't have a match winner anymore,that player who single handedly hands the team a win,that Doctor Khumalo kind of player. The late Scara ngobese came in but never lived to the expextations, Tshabalala is more a winger,Jali doesn't have enough skill, one would expect Manyisa,mayambela or Lebese to produce that magic but they disappoint more than they lived to the expectations.
At the beginning of the week,Orlando Pirates announced the suspension of coach Julio Leal, it seemed to have been a suicidal decision when they lost 3-0 to Santos on Wednesday night but I personally knew it was the best decision for the buccaneers because they were bringing in someone who has been at the team for a long time and knows the culture of the team. The only thing that gave Ruud Krol the treble last season was because he listened and played with natural wingers, Leal didn't do it and he failed,now Palacios is doing it ,he won the derby I wouldn't be surprised if his reign last longer.
South African football is all about wing play, shibobos, tsamayas,show me your numbers etc,those skills make our football interesting. That is why most coaches,more especially foreign,come to south africa and win games but the end up getting fired because they aren't playing attractive football. The derby had goals ,was very competitive and interesting but it still lacked that one player who would come in around minute 75 and embarrass the opposition defence ,Mayambela came in but never delivered, lack of game time yes,but a professional player must always step up to the occasion.
Benni proved again what a world class player he is,a man of the match performance plus scoring two goals in a derby showed that he is the man fo the big occasions. The wingers Segolela and Klate did well to expose the Chiefs fullbacks ;Tau and Ritchie were unable to play their usual game because of Segolela and Klate constantly coming to them. The Chiefs defence was very shaky ,a Sweswe kind of player was needed ,the less said about their midlefielders the better,where was Nengomashe? Was he injured? I wonder. Lucky Baloyi is a good player but he always does good with Nengomashe or Letsholonyane behind him and with YeYe out for the rest of the season it would only make sense to have Nengomashe and one youngster at the heart of things.
With all that said, the game was a Thriller,Kaizer Chiefs showed character but unfortunately couldn't equalise ,pirates on the other hand showed composure by maintaining their lead in the game although they lost concentration when the game neared its end. The two teams both have tough tasks this coming week, Pirates are up against an in-form Mamelodi Sundowns as Chiefs will lock horns with Bloemfontein celtics.
