Rakhale expects Kaizer Chiefs to come better prepared when the country’s biggest fixture is replayed in the Telkom Knockout semi-final at FNB Stadium.
While last Saturday’s encounter was a League match, the forthcoming contest is knockout, and the winner will be guaranteed of banking at least R1.5-million in prize money for the losing finalists.
Right now the facts state that Bucs won the last meeting between the two clubs and have the upper hand in cup competition matches having won six, while Chiefs have triumphed in five with another two finishing off as draws since the start of the modern-day PSL in August 1996.
“The past Derby is just water under the bridge,” insists Rakhale.
“We have passed that and we are going to prepare for this one just like how we prepare for any important game. I mean, this is a cup game, a semi-final game and we cannot go to this game thinking we won the last Derby. The Derby fever, we have forgotten about it and for us it is just another game that we have to prepare for without thinking much about the previous results.
“It is not about the previous result that we got against them. It is a different ball-game. It is a new game. Even with us we will go into this game better prepared than before because we know that they will prepare themselves better than the last time, so we should expect a tough one both mentally and physically. Both teams are going to be on their toes,” explains Rakhale.
Saturday’s meeting will be the 14th cup competition meeting between Bucs and Amakhosi and while Pirates have dominated head-to-head cup wins overall, it is actually Chiefs that have won more games in this particular competition, winning three and losing one.
Chiefs won the 2010 Telkom Knockout Final against Pirates 3-0 and also got the better of the Sea Robbers on penalties (3-0) in the semi-final the previous season.
Then when this same competition was still known as the Rothmans Cup, Amakhosi won 3-1 in a 1998/99 semi-final first leg before losing 1-0 in the reverse fixture as they went on to reach the Final as aggregate winners.