AMAZULU captain Thapelo Xoki says they will show no mercy to the beleaguered Orlando Pirates when they host the Soweto giants at Umlazi’s King Zwelithini Stadium tonight (7.30pm).
Basically, Usuthu will face the Buccaneers looking to get their season underway, having lost the first two league matches – 3-0 to Bidvest Wits in their opening match and 1-0 to Polokwane City away.
On the other hand, Pirates have lost their last three matches in different competitions.
The Soweto giants are still in the stage of stress and frustrations following the shock departure of their coach Milutin Sredojevic on Friday, who has since joined Egyptian giants Zamalek SC.
Rhulani Mokwena will guide Bucs, ruling solo until the club find the Serbian’s replacement.
Mokwena, the former Mamelodi Sundowns assistant coach, lost 1-0 to Highlands Park in his first match in charge in the MTN8 quarter-final on Saturday.
Pirates will fight to avoid another defeat, which will calculate to their fourth in four matches. The last time Pirates lost four matches on the trot was in May 2008 when they were defeated by SuperSport United 1-0, Ajax Cape Town 2-0, Platinum Stars 1-0 and 1-0 to rivals Kaizer Chiefs.
“It is well documented that there are big problems at Pirates as they lost three matches on the trot. They also lost the coach,” said Xoki, who changed his surname from Nyongo before the season started.
“But we also need to get back to our winning ways. We haven’t won any matches this season.”
Going back to last season, including these two league matches, it is five matches now without a win for the team from Durban.
This has put pressure on coach Cavin Johnson who faces the chop, if Usuthu doesn’t win tonight, then heads will roll.
Added Xoki: “If we don’t win our home matches, then we’ll have a problem. Our home games last season helped us a lot, and we don’t want to find ourselves catching up.
“Hopefully, we can improve where we have been lacking and rectify that in tonight’s game.”
In yesterday’s media briefing, Johnson said they will fight for the points.
“There is never a right time to play anyone. Everyone prepares to win. We expect to play a fighting team, a running team and one that is very technical,” he said.
Goalie Siya Mbatha admitted that “it’s a big game”.
“We have to play for the badge. It’s entirely now up to us. We’ve prepared well and we are ready,” he said.
