Seeing Orlando Pirates’ outstanding achievements this season, currently positioned second in the Betway Premiership log and progressing to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League, in contrast to their rivals Kaizer Chiefs’ underwhelming season, it’s easy to view them as the likely winners of the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday.
Nonetheless, Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has rejected the idea that they possess an upper hand over their arch-rivals before their clash at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Ncikazi pointed out that Amakhosi are well-rested, having last played on Saturday, while his team competed on Tuesday against Golden Arrows.
Chiefs shocked Mamelodi Sundowns to a 2-1 defeat to advance into the final of the tournament and are highly motivated to end a decade-long trophy drought.
“We are not favourites, being a favourite is very subjective; it depends on how you want to look at it,” he said on Wednesday in a press conference.
The former Golden Arrows coach highlighted the fact that the Sea Robbers have played 14 more games than the Glamour Boys, having participated in two more competitions than them, including MTN8 and the Champions League.
“One, Chiefs were the last winners in a cup final that was played between the two teams. Secondly, they are a well-rested team if you look at the number of games that we have played, we have played 48 games while they have played 34 games. So we are 14 games more than what they have played.
“Coming into this week, we were playing yesterday (Tuesday) Chiefs had a whole week of preparation. We don’t want to fall into the fallacy of thinking we are favourites, we are not, but Kaizer Chiefs are,” he concluded.