‘Sundowns will beat Pirates in league showdown’ – Ex-Bucs player

Former Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Benedict ‘Tso’ Vilakazi has shared his predictions ahead of Tuesday night’s Absa Premiership tie between Pirates and Sundowns at Dobsonville Stadium.

Read: Jele opens up on the upcoming Sundowns crunch tie

The former Bafana Bafana international has labelled the Brazilians as ‘favourites’, insisting that the fact that they have already played a game at the Nedbank Cup semi-final with Bidvest Wits puts them at an advantage.

PSL | ORLANDO PIRATES VS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS - Mamelodi Sundowns ...
Mamelodi Sundowns captain Hlompho Kekana and Orlando Pirates midfielder Fortune Makaringe during the Absa Premiership match first leg.
(Image: Mamelodi Sundowns/website)

“Looking at this match‚ I will say that Sundowns have a slight advantage‚” Vilakazi told TimesLIVE.

“I am saying this because they have already played one full cup game‚ which tested them‚ while Pirates have not been tested in a similar situation. With this Covid-19‚ teams were not able to play friendly matches and coaches could not test their players. This may work against Pirates.

“Of course, this does not mean that Sundowns are going to win this game for sure because if you are a Pirates player‚ you don’t need to be motivated when you are going to play against Sundowns.

“The rivalry is too much, and players will want to dig deep to ensure that they come on top.

“We don’t know what Pirates have been doing behind the scenes at their training ground and this is what is going to make this game intriguing for the fans and difficult for both teams.” 

The 38-year-old Soweto-born midfielder reckons that Pirates players must focus on their mental strength if they are to prevail in the highly-anticipated crunch match.

“In a situation like this‚ you must focus mainly on the things you can control,” Vilakazi added.

“I am sure that the Pirates coaches and players watched the match between Sundowns and Wits on Saturday and they picked up a few things. What I saw from that match is that the two teams were struggling towards the end of the match in terms of fitness.

“The one thing that I think could work for Pirates is building mental strength because if you are strong mentally you are able to respond to tough situations. They will only know once the match has started how they are physically and there is very little they can do about it by then.”