Orlando Pirates suffered their second defeat of the league season, going down 1-0 to Cape Town City in the Mother City. The result leaves them three points behind Sundowns at the top of the table. Meanwhile, Chiefs came back to win 2-1 against Stellies, while Sekhukhune ended a 3-year wait to beat AmaZulu 2-0 away from home. This is a quick wrap of some standout midweek stats..
1. Bucs’ struggles in Cape Town
What was shared:
Orlando Pirates have won just two of their last 15 league games away to Cape-based opposition (CT City/Stellenbosch/Ajax/Spurs: P15 W2 D6 L7 since 2017, excluding the bio-bubble).
When considering Cape Town City only, this was the Buccaneer’s eighth visit away to The Citizens in the league. They’ve won just once (in May), losing three games and drawing the other four. The solitary win in May is also the source of their only clean sheet away to City.
What we didn’t share:
0 - This was the 10th time that the opposition scored first in a league game against Pirates under Jose Riveiro, and Pirates have never come back to win (D2 L8).
2. Ertugral completes a Soweto double
What we shared:
2018 - Muhsin Ertugral is the first coach to oversee back-to-back league wins over Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates since Gavin Hunt for Wits in August 2018.
What we didn’t share:
5 - Only 5 coaches have won back-to-back league games v Chiefs & Pirates.
Roger de Sa 2007/08 (Wits)
Julio Leal 2008/09 (Swallows)
Dan Malesela 2015/16 (Chippa)
Gavin Hunt 2018/197 (Wits)
Muhsin Ertuğrul 2024/25 (CT City)
NB: it’s quite rare to play Pirates & Chiefs back-to-back (e.g it’s happened just 7 times in 30 years for Sundowns).
3. Chiefs on the come-back trail
Kaizer Chiefs came back from a goal down to win against Stellenbosch last night. The clean sheet “problem” continues - needing two goals to win almost every game will always add pressure to a team. But they showed character to bounce back here and win 2-1. For context, Chiefs comeback to win a game only 15% of the time in the league. But they’ve done that twice already this season.
What we didn’t share:
8 - Chiefs have won eight points after falling behind this season (W2 D2), twice as many as they did after falling behind last season (4 points - W1 D1).
4. Wandile Duba at the double
What we didn’t share:
20 - Aged 20 years 195 days, Wandile Tuba is the 4th youngest player to grab a league brace for Kaizer Chiefs in the PSL era after Collins Mbesuma, Kabamba Musasa, Knowledge Musona, and Jabu Pule.
Had Duba scored his brace in the City game on Saturday, he’d be 3rd youngest.
Had he scored his brace in the game before (v Chippa), he’d be the 2nd youngest.
Indeed, two of the five youngest players to score a brace for Chiefs in a league game are from this season (Mdu Shabalala is the 5th youngest, aged 20 years 284 days earlier this season).
5. Sekhukhune beat AmaZulu
It had been over 1000 days since Sekhukhune scored a goal, and never won a game against AmaZulu. 1,169 days to be exact - until last night. The 2-0 win will be welcomed by everyone in their camp.
What we didn’t share:
10 - Since losing to Sundowns on 30 November, Sekhukhune has won more points than any other top-flight side (10).
Points won since 1 December:
10 - Sekhukhune
9 - Sundowns, TS Galaxy, Polokwane City, Cape Town City
7 - Supersport, Chiefs, AmaZulu