Embattled and injury-ravaged Orlando Pirates make a trip to off-form and uncertainty-ridden Free State Stars today, in an Absa Premiership fixture that could prove decisive for both teams.
Having dropped to third in the standings after a succession of draws, Pirates have to win to stay in touch in the title race, but news that they have lost Thabo Matlaba to injury will make their task of retaining the championship for three seasons running even more difficult.
The Buccaneers reported yesterday that Matlaba would miss up to eight weeks of action, the Bafana Bafana leftback joining a long injury list which has left Roger de Sa helpless in his bid to close the gap on league leaders Kaizer Chiefs.
Tonight’s game at Charles Mopeli Stadium (7.30pm) would bring Pirates level on the number of matches played with their rivals, but even victory would still leave them trailing by four points.
It’s a must-win scenario for De Sa’s men, who have not won a league game since February 20, but their opponents are similarly desperate for points.
While Pirates have fallen not too far off the pace in the title race, Stars have slipped so badly that, for the first time in a long while, they could find themselves outside the top half of the standings if they do not win and results elsewhere go against them.
Ea Lla Koto – like Pirates – have not won since their February 20 success at home to Maritzburg United, and go into tonight’s match on the back of three successive defeats.
They are hanging on to the top-eight spot by a thread, with Tuks and Bloemfontein Celtic – the sides immediately below them – just a point adrift the QwaQwa side.
Speculation has been rife that Stars coach Steve Komphela could leave the team in the winter, with SuperSport the said destination, but Ea Lla Koto’s management yesterday dismissed uncertainty in their camp was to blame for the recent results.
“I don’t think you can attribute our poor form of late to speculation about Steve,” said Rantsi Mokoena, the Stars general manager.
“If you can check we lost to the same teams in the first round, with the exception of Ajax Cape Town. We lost against Moroka Swallows and Platinum Stars. As far as I’m concerned Steve is still contracted to us and hasn’t indicated if he’s going anywhere. Steve is a reasonable man and I doubt if he’ll come to me at the end of June and say he’s leaving. If he was leaving, he would have said so by now.”
Mokoena pointed out that Stars had similarly been gripped by uncertainty last winter as well, with certain reports indicating definitively that Komphela had signed with Chiefs.
“We are used to this kind of speculation. Last year it was Chiefs, and that went of for a very long time. Steve stayed with us and still has a year left on his contract. We see the same trend when it comes to our players. In many cases we read about our players being sold to some clubs before we even know about it. There’s very little we can do about such speculation,” Mokoena said.
The latest players linked with a move away from Stars include captain and goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene, and rising star Luyolo Nomandela, but Mokoena insisted such uncertainty hasn’t affected the team one bit.
“We may have dropped to eighth, but if we win our next two games we are back in fourth spot. I agree we have had a bad patch, but we are not in any way worried about missing out on a top-eight finish,” he said confidently.
He’s hopeful Stars can use Pirates as a springboard to turn their fortunes around. “Pirates haven’t had the best of runs, and maybe they are what we need to turn it around,” Mokoena said.
Fixtures
Black Leopards v Ajax Cape Town (Old Peter Mokaba Stadium). (late kick-off)
Today: Mamelodi Sundowns v University of Pretoria (Loftus Stadium); Free State Stars v Orlando Pirates (Charles Mopeli Stadium); AmaZulu v Bloemfontein Celtic (Moses Mabhida Stadium); Bidvest Wits v Platinum Stars (Bidvest Stadium); Maritzburg Utd v Golden Arrows (Harry Gwala Stadium); Chippa United v Moroka Swallows (Philippi Stadium). All 7.30pm
Saturday: University of Pretoria v Free State Stars (Tuks Stadium); Platinum Stars v Chippa United (Royal Bafokeng); Moroka Swallows v Kaizer Chiefs (Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium, 6pm); Ajax Cape Town v Bidvest Wits (Athlone Stadium, 8.15pm)
Sunday: AmaZulu v Mamelodi Sundowns (Moses Mabhida Stadium); Bloem Celtic v Golden Arrows (Free State Stadium)
Matches at 3pm unless stated
Standings
P W D L F A Pts
Chiefs 25 14 10 1 43 15 52
P Stars 24 14 3 7 39 23 45
Pirates 24 12 9 3 31 16 45
SuperSport 24 7 14 3 27 20 35
Wits 24 8 10 6 24 25 34
Maritzburg 24 8 9 7 25 23 33
Swallows 24 9 5 10 33 34 32
FS Stars 24 8 8 8 22 23 32
Tukkies 24 6 13 5 25 22 31
Celtic 24 8 7 9 25 28 31
Sundowns 23 6 9 8 20 20 27
Arrows 24 7 6 11 23 27 27
AmaZulu 24 5 10 9 14 28 25
Ajax 24 5 8 11 25 39 23
Leopards 24 4 8 12 26 43 20
Chippa 24 3 7 14 19 35 16 - The Star