OptaJabu Newsletter #15: CAF stuff..
The details behind the stats as Stellies, Pirates & UWC Women shine...
It was a great weekend for PSL teams in COSAFA, sorry CAF competitions. Stellies cruised through 8-0 on aggregate against a Swati team, while Pirates won 4-0 against a team from Madagascar. In the women’s CAFWCL qualifiers, UWC Ladies overcame Gaborone United on penalties to somewhat end the Letsie-Tebogo-influenced country-mance with Botswana. We shared some stats on the weekend, but picked up a few more this morning, so here’s 8 stats to ponder in this one. Let’s get straight to it…
On Pirates home CAF record:
1/24 - Orlando Pirates have lost just one of their last 24 home games in CAF competitions (W15 D8 L1 since July 2015, including 17 clean sheets).
The question (as often) stretched to Sundowns & Chiefs’ comparison, but we’ve gone deeper into the Top 10 (ordered by number of wins).
On Pirates scoring prowess:
4+ - This is the 11th time Orlando Pirates have scored 4+ goals in a match under Jose Riveiro, more than any other Pirates coach in the PSL era.
Times a Pirates coach oversaw a game with 4+ goals for Pirates:
11 times - Riveiro Jose
9 times - Bondarenko Viktor, Tinkler Eric
7 times - Palacios Augusto
6 times - Papic Kostadin, Sredojević Milutin (Micho), de-Sa Roger
On Pirates’ Cup scoring prowess (Newsletter#13 warned this was coming)
55 - Under Jose Riveiro, Orlando Pirates have scored 55 goals in Cup competitions, going past Eric Tinkler (53) as the coach whose teams have scored the most goals for the club in Cups.
Top 5 coaches for Cup goals at Pirates (goals per game in brackets):
55 - Riveiro (2.04)
53 - Tinkler (1.8)
50 - Bondarenko (2.8) - sheesh 50 goals in 18 games
46 - de Sa (1.7)
46 - Krol (1.6)
In all comps (including league), the Spaniard is now 3rd on the list all-time, just 11 goals from Krol as the Pirates coach with the most goals. Another newsletter, eh?
On Stellies multiple goalscorers…
Iqraam who? Jokes, they stiill need that striker.
5+ – This was only the second time Stellenbosch had five different scorers in a game since their 2019 promotion (after the 6-3 win over TS Galaxy in the 2023 Nedbank Cup in March 2023).
On Stellies aggregate win
8+ - Stellenbosch progressed past Nsingizini Hotspurs 8-0 on aggregate; only the 9th time a PSL team has won a two-legged CAF tie by a victory margin of eight or more.
On both teams…
So, Pirates scored 4 and Stellies followed up with 5 the next day. The question was how often two PSL teams scored 4+ on the same weekend in CAF. Turns out it’s quite common, so had to filter out HOME games only for a “story”:
4 - This was just the 4th time in PSL history that two PSL teams scored 4+ at home on the same weekend in CAF competition. No more time, screenshots will have to do now
On UWC Women
UWC Ladies were Southern African champions on the weekend after they defeated Gaborone United on penalties in the COSAFA CAFWCL qualifying final. They join Sundowns Ladies in the finals (date & venue tbc), as the second South African representative. More impressive is how they did it:
1 – UWCFootball are the first-ever team to win the CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifying tournament despite losing their opening game.
Reader: “Will you bring more coverage for women’s sports in future, Opta Jabu & crew?”
Opta team: “Yes, we have plans. And not just because one of our team is UWC Alumni..”
Congratulations UWC!!!
On the next round of CAF..
Pirates v Jwaneng Galaxy in the CAFCL 2nd preliminary round will be the first time the Buccaneers face the same opponent in consecutive editions in CAF competitions.
Overall, it’s actually the 3rd time Pirates face Galaxy (P4 W3 D0 L1 in two 2-legged ties) - they’ve never faced an opponent more often.
also faced Al Ahly three times (twice in 2012/13 & once in 2014/15)
Onto the MTN8. See you all at the stadium(s). Have a great week…