This year’s Carling Black Label Cup has undergone radical changes with four teams rather than the usual two in action next weekend. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
The rarest Soweto Derby stat you’ll ever see
The Soweto Derby hasn’t necessarily been known for staggering goal-scoring feats, but we have seen three of them.
This year’s Carling Black Label Cup has undergone radical changes with four teams rather than the usual two in action next weekend. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
It probably won’t surprise you that the Soweto Derby doesn’t produce an awful lot of hat-tricks.
But the actual number is probably even smaller than you thought. In its history, arguably the continent’s biggest derby clash has seen just three trebles scored.
READ: Soweto Derby: All you need to know in one place
READ: Our predicted Soweto Derby starting XIs
ALSO READ: Chiefs vs Pirates: Five things to look out for in the 176th Soweto Derby
Even though Soweto Derby clashes in 1970s were high-scoring affairs, there has not been a treble netted in matches between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs in 26 years. Here’s a look at the trio of trebles we’ve seen.
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Hat-tricks in the Soweto Derby
Sugar Muguyo (Chiefs)
Zimbabwean striker Ebson ‘Sugar’ Muguyo rubbed salt into the wounds of Orlando Pirates when he bagged the very first Soweto Derby hat-trick in a BP Top 16 semi-final replay in 1975. Muguyo would go on to score nine derby goals, placing him fifth on the all-time list for Chiefs.
READ: Soweto Derby — Last six meetings between Chiefs and Pirates
Henry Khumalo (Pirates)
Second-half substitute Henry ‘Mthofi’ Khumalo was the hero of the Champions of Champions final second leg in 1981 when he engineered a staggering turnaround. Khumalo well and truly turned this game on its head after being introduced as a substitute to bag a hat-trick in the second half to give the Buccaneers a 3-2 aggregate win.
READ: Who has scored the most Soweto Derby goals in history?
Hat-tricks in derbies are remarkable as it is, but this one surely takes the cake. Chiefs were a goal up from the first leg at a packed Orlando Stadium before extending their aggregate lead when Peter Mokotedi scored right after the break. One of the most sensational turnarounds you’ll ever see in African football.
ALSO READ: The seven greatest Kaizer Chiefs players in recent memory
Jerry Sikhosana (Pirates)
The last hat-trick in a derby match was scored 26 years ago as Jerry ‘Legs of Thunder’ Sikhosana fired Pirates to a 4-1 rout over Chiefs in the 1996 Bob Save Super Bowl semi-finals.
READ: Who has scored the most Soweto Derby goals in history?
Will we see a hat-trick on Saturday? The stats say no but the optimists say yes.
READ: More insight and analysis from from football fanatic James Freemantle
