MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
GREEN Eagle’s opponents in the CAF Champions League preliminary round, Orlando Pirates’ woes have continued ahead of Saturday’s second match between the two sides to be played at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Pirates on Tuesday night played out to a goalless draw with Amazulu at the King Zwelithini Stadium.
The draw means the Soweto giants have gone four games without a win losing three and drawing one and failing to score even a single goal in 360 minutes.
To add to their problems, coach Milutin Sredojevic early this week stepped down from his post barely days before the crunch encounter against Eagles in which Pirates lost one nil in the first leg.
In Tuesday’s game, stand in coach Rhulani Mokwena started with a less fancied side with probably the CAF Champions League second leg tie against Eagles next Friday in mind.
Justin Shonga was the only Zambian who was included in the match-day squad and was only introduced as a substitute late in the 85th minute replacing South African Siphesihle Ndhlovu.
Eagles head into the second leg with a one-goal advantage and will be hoping that a win or scoreless draw qualifies them to the next round of the competition.
On the other hand, Pirates will be all out to get an early goal to rejuvenate their scoring confidence as any delay to score in the first half would not only cause panic but make them lose confidence.
Coach Aggrey Chiyangi will probably deploy a defensive formation and will heavily rely on counter-attacks to avoid conceding a goal.
A win for either side will qualify them to the next round of the competition.
While Pirates are perpetual participants in the competition, it’s the first time that Eagles were participating having been runners-up in last season’s Zambian transitional league.
