Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 7y

Sinking Orlando Pirates eager to grab shot at redemption

Orlando Pirates will finally bring down the curtain on the worst season in the club's 80-year history when they take on SuperSport United in the final of South Africa's FA Cup on Saturday.

It gives the club once dubbed 'Soweto giants', but now a pale imitation of that moniker, a chance to redeem something from a campaign in which they finished 11th in the league and suffered a club record 6-0 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns.

Equally traumatic was a 6-1 loss to SuperSport in the league earlier this season, with the club winning just six of their 30 games in that competition.

At a time when Buccaneers had hoped to commemorate their 80th birthday in style, they have nothing to celebrate, and are rather trying desperately to pick up the pieces of their shattered reputation.

However, Swedish coach Kjell Jonevret will know that the memories of football fans are short and that victory at the Moses Mabhida Stadium will erase many bad memories from this campaign.

It will allow them to go into the close-season break on an emotional high and qualify for the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup, some consolation for missing out on the lucrative MTN8 in the 2017/18 South African campaign.

Defeat, by contrast, would mean a long winter for the club, and could even -- somewhat unfairly given what he inherited -- throw Jonevret's future in doubt.

Pirates have been inactive since their final league game on May 27, a chance for the team to recharge and take stock of their performances this year.

Whether Jonevret has been able to put that time to good use remains to be seen, but certainly he was in an upbeat mood when he met the media on Thursday.

"We have rested and have no injuries, but more importantly, there is a strong belief within the team. We are positive," Jonevret told journalists.

"We've worked hard in training, shown good intensity in the friendlies and we're ready to go. This is the last chance for silverware, we are very motivated and feeling good ahead of the game."

While Pirates have been 'resting', SuperSport have featured in two matches in the Confederation Cup, most recently home to Tout Puissant Mazembe on Tuesday.

"We aren't worried about how long it's been since we played competitively. It's a cup final, we want to go out there and win," the coach added.

The match is a repeat of the 2016 final played in Polokwane that saw SuperSport win 3-2 in a game filled with drama.

Pirates led early through Luvuyo Memela, but their opponents raced into a 3-1 lead at halftime as New Zealanders Jeremy Brockie and Michael Boxall, as well as Bradley Grobler, found the net.

Boxall will miss this year's final while he competes at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia with the All Whites.

SuperSport's Clayton Daniels then put the ball into his own net early in the second half, and when the team lost goalkeeper Ronwen Williams to injury, they had Boalefa Pule come off the bench, a player who had never made a senior team appearance in his career, but was now thrust into the heat of a cup final with his side on the rack.

SuperSport hung on and are now looking to become the first club in 35 years to lift the trophy in consecutive seasons, while outgoing coach Stuart Baxter hopes to be the first tactician ever to win the trophy three times.

Aside from 2016, he also won the trophy in 2013 with Kaizer Chiefs when they beat, ironically, SuperSport in the final.

^ Back to Top ^