Kaizer Chiefs are two steps away from retaining their Coca-Cola Cup crown but first they will have to clear the hurdle of Moroka Swallows when they meet in the semifinals at Loftus on Saturday night.

Victory against the Dube Birds will guarantee them a place in the final on December 18 where they will either face SuperSport United or Wits University. The Glamour Boys are bound to have a difficult final as they have struggled against both Wits and Supersport in the past.

However, defeat against Swallows will only intensify pressure on Ted Dumitru and his team. Looking at the history books, Chiefs will draw a huge sigh of relief as they have only lost once against Swallows in 18 encounters over the last eight years.

"We have two or three minor problems going into our Coke Cup match against Swallows. But we have to do exactly what we did in the last two matches when it comes to replying to their approach to the game. By that I mean long ball for one to target tall players. We have dealt with that quite effectively in the past when we forced Ndlela to be substituted in both matches we played against them,” said Dumitru.

"As for the rest we are just correcting small individual problems here and there. We also have to make sure that the spirit of the players is not negatively affected by these calls from certain sectors for the replacement of players.”

Those “few individual errors” cost them victory against Sundowns (1-1 draw), Golden Arrows (2-2 draw) and Orlando Pirates (2-1 defeat). Swallows will be hoping to capitalise on these weaknesses as they aim to extract revenge for their SAA Supa 8 semifinal defeat against Chiefs in September.

Swallows beat Bloemfontein Celtic in the first round and progressed to the semifinals with a 2-0 win against Black Leopards in Thohoyandou while Amakhosi beat Golden Arrows in their first round match played in Durban.

They then went on to play Dynamos in the quarterfinals making easy meat of the Giyani side with a 4-0 hammering. However, problems in the Chiefs defence will have to be ironed out soon or else they will feel the Swallows sting. Dennis Lota and Lungisani Ndlela have been in admirable form and can cause a major upset if left unchecked.

However, the Dube Birds will be under a hefty amount of pressure with the Chiefs strike force of David Radebe, who is finding his form again. Not forgetting the lethal Collins Mbesuma, there will be no time for complacency.

While Radebe has been the subject of constant criticism from unhappy supporters due to his wastefulness, truth is he has played a major role in Amakhosi’s victories against Dynamos and Golden Arrows plus the draw against Sundowns. He was tossed off against Sundowns, who started breathing with ease shortly after that.

Radebe is looking more like his old self, after a lengthy goal drought he has started to find the back of the net. He held the ball up, created opportunities for his teammates in their 4-0 drubbing of Dynamos and he scored a brace in that game.

Swallows speedy left-winger Edzai Kasinauyo, along with veteran former Bafana midfielder Maimane Phiri, can unlock the most experienced defences. He will be vital in attacking the Chiefs backline and it won't be an easy task to stop him.

"Chiefs have been knocking us out of Cup games for the last two seasons but this time around they are the ones who are going out of the Coca-Cola Cup," said Swallows team manager Bennet Mtshali.

Meanwhile, Dumitru explained the absence of assistant coaches Doctor Khumalo and Farouk Khan on the bench in recent matches.

"I am surprised that most people are still asking why are Doctor and Farouk not sitting on the bench anymore. It was announced by the chairman that Jeff Butler had left the Development Academy and Farouk and Doctor were assigned to help in the Academy.

"That’s an extra duty, which takes a lot of time from them and secondly, according to PSL rules, we cannot have four coaches on the bench, physiotherapist and team doctor. Obviously there had to be adjustments to that figure," he said.