Orlando Pirates beat Kaizer Chiefs in Soweto Derby but ultimately both teams are losing

Why the best derby in years was overshadowed by the gulf between the two giants and Mamelodi Sundowns

Wondergoals, controversial calls and even a manager and player meltdown, the 180^th Soweto Derby had it all last weekend.

In front of 85,000 plus fans in the sold out FNB stadium (AKA Soccer City), the location of the 2010 World Cup Final, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs played out a thrilling five goal thriller that the Buccaneers deservedly won 3-2.

After the previous eight league meetings between the sides finishing either 2-1 or 1-0 and both teams struggling for form, it was a breath of fresh air to see the two rivals throw caution to the wind and attack with abandon.

Pirates in particular looked excellent going forward, playing a gung-ho system that featured two wingers playing at full back. The ploy clearly paid off as the two linked up for the second goal when Deon Hotto’s pull back found Thabiso Lebitso who unleashed a rocket that crashed in off the bar. But coach Jose Riveiro’s approach also left much to be desired defensively as they were picked apart by Chiefs on the counterattack with both of Ashley Du Preez’s goals exposing Pirates’ fragility at the back.

It was a phenomenal match, one of the greatest matches of PSL era and demonstrated why the Soweto derby is still one of the biggest matches in club football. Hardly any games in world football can continue to attract the interest like South Africa’s two biggest clubs who, have one of the most competitive derbies. Pirates’ win gave them the double over Chiefs, only the second time that has happened in PSL history.

But despite the pageantry, excitement and brilliance there was a nagging sense that this game was irrelevant. The win took Orlando Pirates into second and that is the best that Pirates can do. Having played 20 games (one third of the PSL season) Pirates already sit 13 points behind Mamelodi Sundowns with the league leaders having two games in hand. In fact, Pirates are closer to Moroka Swallows in 14^th and just one place above the relegation zone than they are to Mamelodi Sundowns.

Things are even worse for seventh placed Kaizer Chiefs who are only four points off their rivals in second but are 17 points off Sundowns, the same gap between them and Cape Town Spurs in last place.

The Soweto derby this last weekend perfectly sums up the reality of the PSL and the plight of Pirates and Chiefs. They are still by far and a way the biggest clubs in the country and among the biggest on the continent, and yet they are closer in quality to the worst teams in the PSL than they are to Mamelodi Sundowns.

It has now been nine years since either Pirates or Chiefs won the PSL and in the last decade both teams have barely laid a glove on Sundowns.

The simple answer to the gap that has opened up is spending power. Since they were bought in 2004 by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, Sundowns have been able to outspend the two Soweto giants. But bar those two titles won in 2006 and 2007 Sundowns struggled to compete with their competitors. Motsepe’s large chequebook didn’t give him or the club the necessary skills to run a club. In retrospect, that first decade under Motsepe should have been a warning to Chiefs and Pirates to get their acts together before it was too late because eventually that money would make the difference.

And it did, starting with the arrival of Pitso Mosimane, the club’s fortunes were transformed. Like a spoilt rich kid given the dressing down that turned them to the protagonist of any number of superhero movies, the team and club became a winning machine.

Since Mosimane’s first full season in 2013-2014, Masandawana have never come below second in the league. They won five of seven PSL titles under Mosimane and won their first ever Champions League in 2017.

Since Mosimane left, they have replaced not only himself well but transformed the entire structure of the club, bringing in sporting director Flemming Berg (formerly a scout at Chelsea and Head of Elite Football Development at the Danish FA) as well as top coaches like Michael Loftman, Manqoba Mngqithi and of course the South African Pep Guardiola Rhulani Mokwena. They invested in the first fully professional women’s team who are serial Super League champions and have won two of three CAF Champions League and have developed a youth system that brings through the very best talent like Percy Tau.

Sundowns began thriving a decade ago when Mosimane convinced Motsepe to take a step back in the running of the club. In contrast, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs are two much larger clubs run by powerful families who have not been able to hand off control of the clubs to experts and they have paid the price.

It’s no coincidence that since Mosimane’s appointment in 2012, Sundowns have had four managers, three of them actually working together as co-coaches before Mokwena was given the solo reigns. In contrast, Pirates have had eleven and Chiefs have had ten with a number of them having returned for second stints.

Such is their reticence to bringing in outside expertise that it has actively handicapped Chiefs. At the beginning of the season, they were in talks to bring in Tunisian head coach Naseraddine Nabi who had recently won back-to-back doubles with Young Africans in Tanzania and took the team to their first ever continental final when they lost to USM Algiers in the final of the Confederation Cup.

But Chiefs refused to allow him to bring in his own staff and so instead he signed for Moroccan club ASFAR Rabat, and Chiefs went with their own Head of Technical and Youth Development Academy Molefi Ntseki. Since then, Chiefs have fired Ntseki and brought in his successor at the academy Cavin Johnson as an interim coach. Meanwhile ASFAR are top of the Botola Pro, four points clear of Raja Casablanca in second.

And sadly for Chiefs and Pirates fans, that gap is set to only widen. Not only are Sundowns now able to shamelessly poach their rivals’ best talent on the pitch and off it but their financial strength is only growing.

The biggest hope for many in the PSL would be the introduction of Financial Fair Play which could curb Sundowns spending. With Pirates and Chiefs still dwarfing Sundowns in terms of fanbase and commercial success, if FFP was brought into the PSL it would in theory allow for the two giants to be able to compete financially with Sundowns.

But that will change over the next decade. The introduction of the African Football League (the African Super League) and a prize pot of $4 million for the winners means that Sundowns (who were invited to join instead of Chiefs or Pirates) have access to money that the other two simply don’t. Just by participating in the first edition, Sundowns pocketed $1 million, more than either Chiefs or Pirates have ever made from continental football.

And things will only get worse with the introduction of the Club World Cup in 2025. Bar any catastrophic changes in form in the next year, Sundowns will be one of the four African teams to qualify and will likely earn upwards of $50 million just for participating in FIFA’s new tournament.

That kind of money would give Sundowns more spending power than Chiefs and Pirates combined even if the Motsepe purse was never touched again.

While Orlando Pirates fans can celebrate a historic win over Chiefs, ultimately both teams are losing.