Orlando Pirates urged to ignore reputations ahead of Soweto derby clash with Kaizer Chiefs

Orlando Pirates enter the Soweto derby in confident mood, but assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has moved to temper expectations, stressing that reputation and form count for little when the pressure peaks at the FNB Stadium.

Orlando Pirates will face rivals Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday at 15:00 in one of African football’s most fiercely contested fixtures, with both sides arriving in contrasting but dangerous form.

Pirates, who sit at the summit of the Betway Premiership, come into the clash buoyed by a commanding 3-0 victory in the previous meeting in February.

Yet Chiefs are also quietly building momentum, unbeaten in their last six league outings and showing renewed defensive stability and attacking sharpness.

Despite the confidence surrounding his side, Ncikazi has urged restraint, insisting that pre-match narratives can be misleading in a fixture where emotion often outweighs logic. His focus, he argues, is rooted in preparation rather than perception.

“One danger that we avoid is measuring teams before we play them. The size and name of the team have no consequence on how you perform on the day,” he said.

The assistant coach, who has worked extensively within South African football, emphasised that Pirates’ consistency this season has come from discipline in approach rather than reliance on reputation or past results. For him, the derby demands the same methodology applied to any other opponent.

He stressed that tactical preparation remains central, with attention placed on understanding opposition behaviour rather than external expectations.

“It’s the analysis. If you look at the matches, we did not do well, where we played draws, you would not have predicted before you played them,” Ncikazi noted, highlighting the unpredictability of league encounters.

Pirates’ technical team has therefore prioritised identifying specific threats posed by Chiefs, while also focusing on how to impose their own structure and rhythm on the game. Ncikazi underlined that the objective remains unchanged regardless of opposition.

“Whether it’s Stellenbosch or Orbit at the end, it doesn’t matter. We just have to approach them the same way with the same mentality of trying to get three points,” he concluded.