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Cape Town - Orlando Pirates and Maritzburg United will get the 2015 Telkom Knockout quarter-finals underway when they meet at Orlando Stadium.
Pirates, who have won the
Telkom Knockout just once (2011), were the last team to book their place in the
quarterfinals of this year’s competition, defeating University of Pretoria 2-1
at home after extra time on October 16. Bucs’ goals were scored by Thabo
Rakhale and Ayanda Gcaba.
Maritzburg, who have never won the League Cup or even reached the final of the competition, claimed their first win of the season in any competition when they beat Jomo Cosmos 2-1 in the previous round of the TKO.
Siyabulela Shai and Kurt Lentjies netted the
goals for the Team of Choice.
Pirates and Maritzburg
have met in three previous cup matches, two of them in the Telkom Knockout: the
first was a 4-2 win for the Buccaneers in the first round in 2006/07, while the
second saw the Soweto side win 3-0 in a semifinal.
The teams’ third and most
recent cup meeting was in the semifinals of the 2014 Nedbank Cup and again
Pirates came out on top with a 2-1 win.
In all, the teams have met
in 21 league and cup matches. Bucs have claimed 13 wins compared to five for
Maritzburg, while just three matches have been drawn. Though the Soweto side
has dominated the rivalry, the Team of Choice will take heart from their recent
results: United have won two of the teams’ last five league meetings, including
a 2-1 away victory in the first half of last season.
Both sides were in league action in midweek and recorded disappointing results. Pirates suffered their first home defeat, going down 1-0 at home to new log leaders Bidvest Wits, while Maritzburg were beaten 2-0 at the Harry Gwala Stadium by visitors Chippa United for their sixth loss in seven Premiership games.
Kick-off is at 15:00 on Saturday, October 24.
