PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 25: Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, Head Coach, of Orlando Pirates during the Absa Premiership match between Chippa United and Orlando Pirates at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on February 25, 2018 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images)
Orlando Pirates: How the Buccaneers defeated Chiefs by drawing inspiration from Black Panther
Pirates easily disposed of their fiercest foe by drawing strength from Wakanda.
PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 25: Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, Head Coach, of Orlando Pirates during the Absa Premiership match between Chippa United and Orlando Pirates at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on February 25, 2018 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images)
Anyone familiar with the Orlando Pirates brand will have noticed how eerily similar the “Wakanda Forever” gesture from Black Panther is to the Buccaneers famous skull and crossbones and, following their derby triumph on Saturday, coach Milutin Sredojevic revealed that they drew inspiration from the blockbuster.
Pirates emerged 3-1 victors in Saturday’s Soweto Derby as they brushed aside the challenge of their fiercest rivals, Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium before a crowd of over 80 000 spectators.
Sredojevic, otherwise known as “Micho”, says that they went to watch the film as a team in the Tuesday prior to the big encounter and felt represented as a sports brand.
“It has been a dream finish of a week where we have really taken care of all the details,” Micho said in the post-match press conference.
“I want to give credit. I stand here in front of you‚ but I want you to really see my brother Rhulani (Mokwena) and the other members of the technical team‚ together with all the players. We have worked very hard throughout the week.”
Micho continued:
“On Tuesday we went for a team-building aspect‚ and we went to watch the film Black Panther.
“It is a film where we as a sports brand feel represented in that historical African theme… and it has been a special injection of motivation for us to go and prove the point today (Saturday).”
The vital win kept Pirates’ title aspirations alive as they consolidated their position in second place on the log, well within reach of leaders Mamelodi Sundowns who are four points ahead of them with just seven matches remaining in the league campaign.
Chiefs, on the other, hand have a bit more work to do to relaunch their title challenge as the defeat saw them drop two spots from third to fifth place, behind third-placed Free State Stars and Maritzburg United (4th).
