‘We are not the favourites, but Kaizer Chiefs are’  – Pirates coach

Orlando Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi claims Kaizer Chiefs are favourites going into the Nedbank Cup final this weekend.

This is despite the Buccaneers winning their last five Soweto derbies against Amakhosi. Ncikazi feels Chiefs have a rich history of winning trophies having won 13 Nedbank Cup trophies compared to Pirates’ 10,

“We know we playing against a very good team, Kaizer Chiefs,” Ncikazi said as per iDiski Times.

“The history of the two teams says, they’ve played 23 times since the inception of this competition. We’ve won it 10 times; they’ve won it 13 times.

“Currently, they’ve scored 14 goals. I think they are the top scorers they’ve only conceded two, so it’s not going to be an easy match, but as usual, we will play this match to try and win.”

Ncikazi feels Chiefs are well rested compared to Pirates

The Buccaneers claimed a 2-1 midweek win over Golden Arrows and Ncikazi feels Chiefs would be the fresher of the two teams, having only played the derby this past weekend.

“Please allow me to make a small correction, we not favourites! Being a favourite is very subject. It depends on how you look at it,” he said.

“One, Chiefs were the last winners in a cup final that we last played between both teams. Secondly, Chiefs are a well-rested team if you look at how many we have played. We have played 48 games, they have played 34 games.

“So, we are 14 games more than what they’ve played, so they are your well-rested team.

“Coming into this game, we were playing yesterday, and Chiefs had a whole week of preparation, so we don’t want to fall into the fallacy of thinking we are favourites. We are not, but Kaizer Chiefs are.” said the Pirates coach.

Who will claim the Nedbank Cup?

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