It will be like manna from heaven for Durban fans when they savour the intensity and magnitude of Soweto's pinnacle soccer derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in the Vodacom Challenge Final at the King's Park Stadium on Sunday.

And, not unpredictably, the football cognescenti of a once-vibrant area now largely starved area of football prowess,

have grabbed the opportunity of witnessing South Africa's unique soccer spectacle with undisguised relish - snapping up every ticket available long before the fateful day in question.

What adds spice in more general terms to the clash is that Chiefs retained the Premier League title last season after a

photo-finish finale to the season with Pirates, who at one stage were sitting pretty at the top of the log with an 11-point advantage.

And so the pursuit of sweet revenge is at this moment paramount in the Pirates' camp.

Who will end up on top, however, is always a precarious enterprise in these clashes, with the paradoxical rule once

expounded by one official to "expect the unexpected" not that far off the mark.

Notwithstanding this, Pirates looked the more composed and better-balanced side in the competition's semi-finals against Zambia's Green Buffaloes and the DRC's AS Vita respectively at Mmabatho Stadium last Sunday and The Buccaneers need only repeat that form to annex the distinctive Kudu Horn trophy for the first time since the first year of the competition's inception.

Pirates too have demonstrated their confidence and assurance for this big occasion by deciding not to call on Thabang Radebe, Lucas Thwala, Lucky Lekgwathi and Gift Leremi, their four representatives in the Concacaf Gold Cup tournament in the United States, who arrived in South Africa on Friday morning.

"The boys have been through a testing tournament and come back via Houston, New York and London on a gruelling journey," said Phil "Mr Jones" Setshedi, "and they deserve a break.

"In any case," he added pointedly, "everything is running smoothly in the camp and we have no problems."

Potential match-winners in the game with a R1m prize are the enterprising Benedict Vilakazi and new signing Lelo Mbele for Pirates and evergreen John "Shoes" Moshoe for Chiefs, but key roles rest on the shoulders of goalkeepers Francis Chansa (Pirates) and Rowen Fernandez (Chiefs) as well.

And, in case anyones cares, the third-place game between 2004 champions AS Vita and Green Buffaloes is due to kick-off at 12.15pm.