Pirates can pull it off

Thamsanqa Gabuza of the Pirates scored a brilliant goal in the first leg of the final at Orlando Stadium last weekend. Picture:Sydney Mahlangu

Thamsanqa Gabuza of the Pirates scored a brilliant goal in the first leg of the final at Orlando Stadium last weekend. Picture:Sydney Mahlangu

Published Nov 29, 2015

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Johannesburg – Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel are favoured to win the CAF Confederation Cup today after forcing a 1-1 draw at Orlando Pirates in the first leg final. But all is not lost for the Buccaneers and The Sunday Independent offers five reasons why Eric Tinkler’s men could defy the odds and lift the trophy in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse.

FINALS HISTORY

Pirates are the sixth club to be held at home in the first leg of a Confederation Cup final since the competition kicked off 11 years ago and three of the other five emerged victors. Ghana’s Hearts of Oak in 2004, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia four years later and FUS Rabat of Morocco in 2010 won the second-tier Caf club championship despite first-leg draws on their ground. A penalty shoot-out made Hearts the first title-holders at the expense of fellow Ghanaians Asante Kotoko and Sfaxien beat Etoile du Sahel on the away-goal rule in an all-Tunisian climax. But the finest performance came from FUS, who put a 0-0 draw in Rabat behind them by beating Sfaxien 3-2 in their Sfax fortress.

 

ABIDJAN INSPIRATION

Ivorian authorities were so confident that ASEC Mimosas would beat Pirates in the second leg of the 1995 African Champions Cup that they declared the following Monday a public holiday. The odds were stacked in favour of the Abidjan outfit after they drew the first leg 2-2 at the old FNB Stadium. A 0-0 or 1-1 draw would suffice to give the West Africans the trophy. But a second-half defensive mix-up allowed Jerry “Legs of Thunder” Sikhosana to score the only goal, and Pirates the title and create one of the greatest Caf club shocks. Sikhosana was at Orlando Stadium last Saturday, working as a SuperSport analyst, and says: “Go to North Africa, be confident, and make South Africans proud.”

 

THAMSANQA GABUZA

The tall, physically imposing striker is poised to become the first South African to finish as leading scorer in a Caf club competition. Gabuza goes into the second leg with six goals, sharing first place on the scorers’ chart with Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah of Etoile and Gabonese Georges Ambourouet of Mounana. His tally comprises home and away goals against Kaloum of Guinea, home and away goals against Al Ahly of Egypt and a home goal against Etoile. So why not an away goal against Etoile, too? His goal last Saturday demonstrated skill and power as he superbly shielded a Thabo Matlaba pass before unleashing a thunderbolt from an acute angle that flew into the far corner of the net.

 

AWAY FORM

Pirates have reached the final because of outstanding away form with four victories, two draws, one defeat and a 13-11 goal tally. After qualifying draws at Revenue Authority of Uganda and Mounana of Gabon, the Buccaneers won away to Kaloum of Guinea in a play-off and AC Leopards of Congo Brazzaville and CS Sfaxien of Tunisia in group games. The last mini-league journey delivered a massive wake-up call as Pirates fell behind, equalised and then conceded three goals to suffer a humiliating 4-1 hiding from Zamalek in Cairo. But the pride of Orlando returned to Egypt soon after and produced a magnificent second-half show, coming from two goals down to triumph 4-3 against title-holders Al Ahly.

 

ETOILE PRESSURE

Most pundits said before the first leg of the final there was little to choose between Pirates and Etoile, the only club to win all five Caf competitions. But after holding the Buccaneers 1-1 in Soweto, the Red Devils from eastern Tunisia are favoured to win the Cup a second time. So the pressure is on Etoile and off Pirates ahead of the return match at the rudimentary 25000-capacity Stade Olympique, a 2004 Africa Cup of Nations venue. And the Tunisians have lost at home in the previous two Confed Cup campaigns, 1-0 to Stade Malien of Mali in 2013 and 1-0 to Sewe San Pedro of Ivory Coast last year.

– THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

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