By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
Orlando Pirates are out of the Nedbank Cup after being knocked out by their National First Division side Casric Stars, via a penalty shootout, at Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday evening.
Pirates were favourites to go through having won the competition twice out of the last three finals, but Casric caused the biggest upset of the last 16.
It went on for two hours without either side able to break the deadlock and the game eventually went to penalties.
Nkosinathi Sibisi missed Pirates’ first spot-kick and Stars had been proficient until Manqoba Ozoemena stepped up to take their fourth kick, but was too elaborate and put his effort wide of the post.
When Pirates’ Mpho Chabatsane put his effort over the bar, Stars had the chance to win it, but Mfundo Thikazi saw his penalty saved by Sipho Chaine.
Nkosikhona Ndaba missed again for Pirates to give Stars another chance for victory, which Zebulon Mtshweni took to seal a 5-4 win.
Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou said their early elimination in the Nedbank Cup was a major disappointment as the club had set their sights on a clean sweep of the domestic knockout trophies.
“It’s a big, big disappointment tonight. Of course, that is the case when you get eliminated from a competition that you are focusing on and which is important for the players and for the fans,” Ouaddou said after the shock defeat.
“We started the game exactly like we wanted, to suffocate Casric Stars quickly in the first half and to create chances. I think the most valuable chances we created came in the first half.
“Unfortunately, it’s the same story as previous games. It’s very important to be efficient, especially in the cup. When you miss such chances in the first half, you give confidence to the opponent, and I think they defended well, they did the job, I think. “For us, we tried in the second half to bring some more creativity to imbalance our opponent. Again, in the second half, we created some chances, and we could have finished the game earlier.”
“When it comes to penalties, we prepare them during the week because it’s a probability. But it’s like that. We lost on penalties.”
Three KwaZulu-Natal topflight outfits AmaZulu, Durban City, Lamontville Golden Arrows are already in the last 8 alongside TS Galaxy who stunned Mamelodi Sundowns in KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga early on Saturday.