Ouaddou and Nabi silence critics as Pirates and Chiefs impress in early PSL campaign
Impressive After an impressive start to the new season, Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi and Orlando Pirates' Abdeslam Ouaddou have defied their critics. Photo: BackpagePix
Image: BackpagePix
Orlando Pirates’ head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou shut his critics down in emphatic style this weekend when the Sea Robbers went to Gqeberha and plundered three goals and three points against a hapless Chippa United.
The Buccaneers were simply sublime as they ran up a 2-0 lead at the break, before scoring a third just past the hour mark and rounding off an impressive 3-0 win.
The football was beautiful, and the Chilli Boys didn’t know what hit them. It was a big statement from the team, whose new head coach had been written off before the season even began. Those who had criticised the Moroccan have begun to warm up to his way of doing things.
A day earlier, fellow Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs went to Durban and left with all three points from their encounter against Golden Arrows, which they won 1-0. Though less flamboyant than Pirates, Amakhosi were disciplined and efficient, controlling the tempo and shutting down Arrows’ attacking lanes. It was the kind of gritty away win that so often eluded them last season, when they dropped points in matches they were expected to dominate.
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After five games, Nasreddine Nabi’s men are level on the league tally with Sekhukhune United, and fans are starting to believe that they can mount a serious title challenge.
Like Ouaddou, Nabi had been under pressure after his first season with the club didn’t go as planned. Before this season began, there was speculation he had fallen out with club bosses, and the axe was hanging over his head.
But the Tunisian has guided the mighty Amakhosi to four wins from their five games. The only reward they’ve missed out on came against perennial champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
Many believed both coaches would be out of their jobs by the next Soweto derby in late February. That no longer looks the case. Ouaddou is slowly finding his feet after a slow start to the term, while Nabi’s Kaizer Chiefs are finding ways to win games, something they couldn’t get right last season.
If both Ouaddou and Nabi can maintain this momentum, the Soweto Derby may arrive not as a battle of survival for two embattled coaches, but as a clash between two revitalised giants with their eyes firmly set on dethroning Sundowns.
For the first time in years, South African football fans have reason to believe that the balance of power could be shifting – and that the country’s biggest rivalry might once again define the title race.
IOL Sport
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