Orlando Pirates are 90 minutes away from securing a fifth successive MTN8 title after cruising into the 2026 final with a 3-0 victory over Sekhukhune United at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
The Buccaneers completed a 4-0 aggregate victory in their semifinal tie, having won the first leg 1-0 in Polokwane, to book their place in the final for the fifth consecutive season.
Thapelo Mokobodi and Ghampani Lungu struck within two minutes of each other in the first half before Kamogelo Sebelebele added a third in stoppage time to put the result beyond doubt.
Pirates started brightly and immediately put Sekhukhune under pressure, with head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou making it clear afterwards that his side had no intention of simply protecting their first-leg advantage.
We wanted to start that game with the attacking football, trying to score goals. We don’t want to protect the advantage of the goal that we had away,” Ouaddou said.
Sekhukhune, however, altered their shape in an attempt to contain the hosts, lining up in a 3-4-3 formation. Assistant coach Paulus Masehe explained that the plan was to use the front three to attack the spaces behind Pirates’ fullbacks while trying to frustrate the Soweto giants.
The approach proved difficult to execute.
We were disoriented from our shifting in that formation and also [left] the spaces in the central area where Pirates is most dangerous,” Masehe said.
The visitors were fortunate to remain at full strength midway through the first half when left-back D’Angelo Kazeem, who had already been booked, escaped a second yellow card after pulling back Lungu. Kazeem was substituted later in the half as Sekhukhune looked to avoid the risk of going down to 10 men.
Sekhukhune goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata was then called into action in the 28th minute, producing an excellent reflex save to deny Mokobodi, whose header from a corner appeared destined for the back of the net.
The pressure eventually told nine minutes later.
Mokobodi arrived late inside the box to meet Yanela Mbuthuma’s well-weighted cross from the left and calmly turned the ball home to give Pirates a 1-0 lead on the night and a 2-0 advantage on aggregate.
Pirates doubled their lead just two minutes later in devastating fashion.
A Sekhukhune corner broke down and the Buccaneers launched a swift counter-attack, with Oswin Appollis providing the running power before Mbuthuma found Lungu inside the box.
The forward made no mistake, smashing a powerful effort past Nsabata to make it 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate.
Masehe admitted that the second goal proved particularly damaging to Sekhukhune’s hopes of turning the tie around.
Through the run of play they got the first goal. And obviously from there onwards we had to push and add more numbers forward. And then we got caught again, of which I believe that was the killer blow for us,” he said.
Sekhukhune Respond After The Break
With a three-goal aggregate cushion, Pirates eased off the pressure after the interval and allowed Sekhukhune more possession and opportunities going forward.
The visitors reverted to their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation and immediately looked more comfortable.
We had to change the formation back to our normal 4-2-3-1. And we did very, very well,” Masehe said.
The tactical switch gave Sekhukhune greater attacking impetus, with Brighton Rovu leading the line and Mosele operating behind him. The introduction of Thepo Mkwena on the left also provided the visitors with another outlet.
Sipho Chaine was forced into action in the 54th minute when he made a sharp save at his near post to deny Siyabonga Ndlozi from a tight angle.
Givemore Khupe then headed over the target moments later as Sekhukhune continued to search for a way back into the contest.
Chaine was called upon again on the hour mark, turning away an effort from Mpho Rammala, while Sbangani Zulu produced an important block nine minutes later to deny Bright Ndlovu.
Masehe felt Sekhukhune had a chance to make the tie more competitive had they found an early second-half goal.
Had we managed to score a little bit early, we could at least have given Pirates a little bit of a run,” he said.
However, the Sekhukhune assistant coach acknowledged that the size of the task was always going to be difficult against a Pirates side with considerable experience of managing knockout matches.
We already knew that it was a huge mountain to climb because the Pirates team is very experienced. If they can score against you it’s always going to be a problem because they know how to manage the game very well.”
For a period, Pirates appeared to have lost some of the rhythm and control they had enjoyed in the opening half, with Sekhukhune becoming increasingly threatening.
Ouaddou, however, had anticipated the change in approach and made tactical adjustments of his own.
He said Pirates identified spaces on the flanks and looked to exploit them as Sekhukhune pressed higher up the pitch.
We wanted to have some tactical adjustment about this 5-2-3 because they came to press us high, but we knew that they had some weaknesses in the last line, especially on the side, so we wanted to use that weakness to imbalance that opponent,” he explained.
The hosts regained their composure during the final quarter and came close to adding a third when substitute Tshepang Moremi was played through, only for Nsabata to rush off his line and make an important save.
The third goal eventually arrived deep into stoppage time.
Pirates produced an excellent passing move before Moremi supplied Sebelebele inside the box. The substitute made no mistake with a composed finish to complete the scoring and seal a 4-0 aggregate victory.
The result capped what Ouaddou described as a successful three-match mission in the MTN8 and another step forward for his team under his leadership.
Good organization, good discipline, again three goals, clean sheet from the boys. If we take a feedback of these three games, I think it was a successful mission,” he said.
Ouaddou also believes Pirates are continuing to improve as they progress through the season, although he conceded there is still work to be done.
Game by game we start to improve. Still some areas to work on, but a lot of positives today from the boys.”
For Sekhukhune, the semifinal defeat brought an end to their MTN8 campaign, but Masehe believes the three meetings with Pirates have provided valuable lessons for Babina Noko.
In the last three games that we played against them, we learnt a whole lot of lessons from all the games and we hope that going forward they can help us a lot,” he said.
Pirates will now face either Mamelodi Sundowns or Lamontville Golden Arrows in the 2026 MTN8 final, which is scheduled for Saturday, 10 October.
The Buccaneers are chasing a fifth consecutive MTN8 crown and remain just one victory away from extending their remarkable dominance in the competition.