Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana are up in arms in their quest to cause an upset against Orlando Pirates in the Caf Champions League and coach Morena Ramoreboli has the formula to sink the Pirates ship.
Galaxy will be hosting the mighty Buccaneers in the first leg of the Champions League second preliminary round at the Botswana National Stadium this afternoon. Kick-off time is 3pm.
The South African-born coach is familiar with the local football and has a glamourous history against the Sea Robbers. Ramoreboli and Thembinkosi Lorch, who is now in the books of Pirates, were in the scheme of things in orchestrating the downfall of Bucs with Maluti FET College in the 2012/13 Nedbank Cup.
Maluti sent Pirates packing early in the competition when they hammered them 4-1 in the first round of the Nedbank Cup, and were the giant killers of the tournament that year.
The Champions League is, however, a different ball game altogether as the Sea Robbers are on an upward trajectory and have been agonisingly strong under the mentorship of the Spanish tactician and “silent assassin” Jose Riveiro.
Pirates come at the back of a comfortable first preliminary round win against Djabal Club of Comoros, thumping them 4-0 on aggregate.
Galaxy, on the other hand, had to dig deep to advance to the next round of the competition when they narrowly went past Uganda’s Vipers FC 3-2 on aggregate – beating them 2-0 in the first leg at home and losing 2-1 away.
The Soweto giants will undoubtedly be going into the fixture as favourites, with five of their key players all fresh and in high spirit coming from a win with Bafana Bafana last week.
Monnapule Saleng, Thabiso Monyane, Nkosinathi Sibisi, skipper Innocent Maela and goal-scoring machine Zakhele Lepasa, were on international duty and will transmit the winning mentality to the rest of the group.
The adage “when elephants fight the ground suffers” will come to play as it will be a battle of champs between Botswana Premier League champions Galaxy and Nedbank Cup and MTN8 kings Pirates this afternoon.
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