Posted in News on Oct 21, 2006.
An exciting and upbeat looking Chiefs team boarded the bus and made the short trip from their Umhlanga hotel to the training ground, for a limbering up session ahead of the game.
Chiefs spent about 35 minutes midmorning on Saturday doing a number of warming up exercises, speaking after the quick session coach Ernst Middendorp said “sitting in the hotel until this evening is not good for the guys. So we decided to get them out and start preparing them for the Cup final, every one is feeling fit and confident our only issues are Siyabonga Nkosi but we knew he was not playing today and Derrick Spencer who has still not recovered from a thigh injury”.
There is a general feeling of excitement and a real buzz in the Amakhosi camp going into the game, and for defender Fabian McCarthy who was on the losing end, when SuperSport defeated Chiefs by a goal to nil in the 2004 Supa8 Final winning the cup on Saturday evening will help Chiefs soar to greater heights over the season.
“Let’s be honest about things, at the moment we need to win the cup more than SuperSport, because victory on Saturday night will lift our spirits and will act as a springboard towards helping us win the remaining three domestic trophies on offer. We harbour hopes of a quadruple dream this season and if we tie down the Supa8 trophy, then the others will just fall in line” said Fabian.
Fabian is confident of victory over SuperSport and is looking forward to walking up on the podium on Saturday evening, to collect the domestic competition in South Africa he has as yet not won.
“Winning the SAA Supa8 trophy will give our league aspirations a shot in the arm, as well as bring back the fans you know we have a lot of supporters and they like to support a winning team. We want to be victorious against SuperSport in that way we will bring the fans back to the stadium in larger numbers, we also want to honour all those who will be watching us at home and those who spent their hard earned cash to be at the ABSA Stadium on Saturday evening” concluded Fabian.
For defender Jimmy Tau who was given a midfield role to fulfil when Chiefs played to a goalless draw with Mamelodi Sundowns a week ago at the FNB Stadium, he has only one objective for Saturday evenings SAA Supa8 Final. The Chiefs defender said “the only thing on my mind against SuperSport on Saturday is to win the game, nothing else will suffice we have the desire, determination and the ability to win the game which I know we can do”.
The positive vibe felt by Jimmy has rubbed off on striker Rotson Kilambe who was the start of the 2005 SAA Supa8 Trophy, when his lone strike for Bloemfontein Celtic helped them defeat SuperSport United and lift the cup.
Kilambe, commenting on his heroics in the 2005 final and his hopes for Saturday’s final said “should I be given the opportunity to play against SuperSport I would like to repeat what happened when I played against them in last years final. I have been training hard all week long and I know that if given half a chance I will be able to help the team win the Cup.
The final word on Saturday’s final goes to Chiefs Ugandan International David Obua who has the uncanny ability to shine on the big occasions as he has demonstrated over the past season and half. Obua said “this is what it’s all about playing in Cup Finals and winning trophies and medals that is one of the reasons I came to Chiefs because at this club you get the opportunity of competing in every competition right to the end”.
Chiefs player of the year from last season, also added that he was not too concerned about squaring off to SuperSport in the final, when he commented and said “if you think you the best you have to beat the best. SuperSport have in recent times have developed themselves into a team with a rich Cup pedigree, we would like to defeat them and stamp our authority in the country as the supreme team in domestic Cup competitions”.
It all comes down to the ABSA Stadium on Saturday evening at 20h10, when Pitso Mosimane’s mind games come up against Ernst Middendorp and a Kaizer Chiefs team, willing to do all it takes to be successful in a Cup Final.
As the Chiefs coach said in midweek that his team do not mind playing in a Cup Final every day, and if it means winning the same trophy over and over again The Amakhosi have no problem with that.
