Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are back in continental club competition action on Saturday, seeing to take a step closer to reaching the group phase of their respective competitions.
Pirates should have little concern as they host Lioli from neighbouring Lesotho at the Orlando Stadium, already 3-0 up from the first leg, but for Chiefs there will be plenty of nerves as they look to fight their way back from their 1-0 loss to Kabuscorp in Angola last weekend.
With the away goals rule still in effect in Confederation of African Football competition, Chiefs cannot afford to concede either, otherwise they will make their task even harder.
The arrival of Khanyisa Mayo on loan from Algeria suggests they could be sharper upfront, and he scored on debut in the Betway Premiership against Marumo Gallants in midweek, but Chiefs conceded after that and were held to a home draw.
Their bright start to the league season has quickly faded and the departure of coach Nasreddine Nabi, who never looked up to the gravity of the task even if he did end the club’s long trophy drought, has exposed turmoil in rhe camp.
Kabuscorp are not one of their country’s top clubs, and are competing in continental competition for only a second time, but teams from Angola are never easy to beat.
It will be the 35th meeting between clubs from Angola and South Africa in African club competition with South African teams holding a narrow winning record of 14 victories to 12 with eight draws.
Pirates struggled initially in last Saturday’s first leg against Lioli, who had to take to their ‘home’ tie to the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein because of the absence of any suitable facilities in the mountain kingdom.
It took until eight minutes into the second half for Pirates to break the deadlock through Tshegofatso Mabasa, who then quickly scored another before Oswin Appollis added a third in the last minute of the three added on for stoppage time.
The comfortable lead offers the opportunity for Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou to field some of his fringe players in the second leg and rest the regulars.
The Buccaneers are expected to glide through comfortably to the second round but will have to wait to find out the identity of their opponents.
They take on either St Eloi Lupopo of the Democratic Republic of Congo or Al Merrikh from Sudan but because the identity of the Congolese representatives was decided late, that tie was postponed. Ther first leg is now being played in Lubumbashi on Saturday with the return in Benghazi, Libya one week later on October 4.