Xoki confident Pirates' recent cup run will see them past Sundowns

As much as Orlando Pirates’ recent league record against Mamelodi Sundowns is poor, the Buccaneers captain Tapelo Xoki sounds optimistic about beating the Brazilians in the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (6pm).

Xoki is drawing confidence from the fact that they beat Sundowns 3-0 in the second leg of last season’s MTN8 semifinals to reach the final that they eventually won against AmaZulu to lift the trophy. Pirates have lost seven of their last eight league fixtures versus Sundowns, drawing one. The last time Pirates beat Sundowns in the league was in January 2020.

“That fact that we beat them last season in the semifinals, is a factor to say ‘we are capable of beating them’. We know in the league we haven’t done well against them recently,” Xoki said during the side’s media open-day at Rand Stadium on Tuesday.

The Sea Robbers’ centre-back is also banking on their recent cup final experience, having also played the Nedbank Cup final and won it against Sekhukhune United in May. Conversely, Sundowns’ last decider was the Nedbank Cup of the 2021/22 season, which they won by beating Marumo Gallants.

“The nice part about this is that it’s a final and we know how to play finals as this is our third final in a row. We must use the experience we gained in the two finals we’ve played recently,” Xoki said.

The former AmaZulu skipper also emphasised that they’d forgotten about last Friday’s heartache of exiting the Caf Champions League after being beaten on penalties by Botswana outfit Jwaneng Galaxy. 

“To get over a loss takes 24 hours, so we’ve gone past that Jwaneng heartache now. We are looking forward to the final on Saturday with a positive mindset, positive spirits. It’s a huge game for us. We have a chance to win another silverware and we’ll take that chance,” Xoki said.