Kaizer Chiefs have a good chance to continue their dominance over rivals Orlando Pirates in the league, according to Freddie 'Saddam' Maake.
In the recent league matches between the two sides, Amakhosi defeated the Buccaneers five times back-to-back, and Maake believes that Cavin Johnson's side will maintain the standard.
Chiefs have been lauded for improved performances under Johnson, who led the team to his first win in two games in charge, and a victory against Pirates could further improve his relationship with the supporters and Maake is confident it will happen.
The Good
"As I am talking about this match and what I think is going to happen, I want people to remember what happened in the games between us and Pirates recently. On 25 February this year, we beat them 1-0 and it was our home game. In an earlier game on 29 October 2022, we beat them 1-0 in their home game in the first round. In a previous one, on 5 March 2022, we defeated them 2-1 in their home game following another 2-1 win for us on 6 November 2021. They should still remember our 1-0 win over them on 21 March 2021 and all I am saying is that this is a team that we have beaten five games in a row in recent (league) derbies. We are going for a half dozen of wins against them and we were just warming up on Wednesday against the newcomers (Cape Town Spurs) and we made our intentions clear with the goals we scored. In this one, if Pirates can behave, we will give them 2-1. (Edson) Castillo will score for us and we call him vaccine because he has been vaccinating people since he arrived. He is scoring great goals, and we will vaccinate Pirates with him," said Maake.
The Bad
"Should Pirates try to behave in the way that Spurs did on Wednesday when they tried to fight against us, we might become angry and give them a 3-1 hiding. It will take an intervention of the referee to save them from humiliation. The referee might try to play tricks and add seven instead of three minutes of injury time but we will just be too much for them. Chiefs are like (Cyril) Ramaphosa's government and is providing for the needy and another three points is loading for those in need from the Pirates game," he said.
The Ugly
"We scored three goals against Spurs and it was a clear message to the misbehaving supporters that the players can perform well and express themselves freely if they can't put them under unnecessary pressure. Also, we were sending a message to the newcomers that we didn't like that they beat our fathers (fathers) ahead of our game as we can do that ourselves," Maake added.
'A perfect gift for the chairman'
"We seriously need those points against Pirates for our chairman who was recently honoured as he was inducted into the South African Hall of Fame, and we want to celebrate with him. Three points against our noisy neighbours will be a perfect gift for the chairman to celebrate this huge achievement. For the rest us, three points from Pirates will be like getting December bonuses. Pirates will never beat Chiefs is this game. Did you see that the Sundowns game was moved to Sunday? It goes to show you how huge the derby is, and I know that it is called the African Football League but compared to the derby it is like the Macufe Cup. The country comes to a standstill when Chiefs and Pirates play. Chiefs and Pirates used to play in the Carling Black Label Cup which was more like a family tournament for them and what Sundowns, Al Ahly and them in Africa are doing now is a family tournament of their own and we are not bothered because it's their Macufe," concluded Maake.
What are your Soweto derby score predictions?
