Double derby duel in QwaQwa

As the Free State’s football foursome size each other up ahead of the derbies this weekend, only two will emerge as this year’ s Nedbank Cup quarterfinalists

For the first time in South African football history, four teams exclusively from the Free State will come up against each other in a double derby cup competition showdown at a single venue.

Free State Stars will host Bloemfontein Celtic tomorrow afternoon at the Charles Mopeli Stadium in QwaQwa, with the giant slayers, Maluti FET College and African Warriors scheduled to lock horns at the same venue on Sunday.

The two Free State derby encounters are expected to provide some great football entertainment. The battle for provincial dominance between Stars and Celtic is almost certainly set to the highest pinnacles of football rivalry in domestic football.

The last time the two teams locked horns was in the Telkom Knockout semi-finals, where Celtic edged out Stars with a 4-3 victory after an intense nail biting 90 minutes. Drawing from this result, it is certain that the last 16 battle between these two Free State football giants is certainly billed to be a cracker of a match.

The Maluti versus Warriors fixture will also not be short of the entertainment spark deserving of any derby clash. The two QwaQwa outfits are both desperate to make their mark in South African football, with Maluti already harnessing the most attention after hammering already the PSL champions Orlando Pirates 4-1 to advance to the round of the last 16.

However, Warriors is a strong NFD team that also advanced to the next round after a convincing 3-0 victory over Jacksa Spears in the last 32 round. None of these two teams have ever advanced this far in the competition and their respective sheer desperation to reach new milestones should serve as an adequate motivator that indisputably sets the stage for another scintillating football battle.

Apart from Celtic, all these teams have a home ground advantage. In spite of this, it is now certain that only two Free State teams will advance to the 2013 Nedbank Cup quarterfinals stage.