He does believe that if Chiefs overcome Sundowns, then their road further will be made easier. It was against Sundowns in the final of this very competition when it was called the BOB Save Bowl in the 1999 – 2000 season, that Ertugral won his first domestic trophy in South Africa.

Back then it was Siyabonga Nomvete’s lone strike from the penalty spot that won Chiefs the match in front of a packed FNB Stadium.

Wary

Although he has a good record against Mamelodi Sundowns in Cup competitions, having beaten them in the Final of the 1999 – 2000 BOB Save Super Bowl (and the 2001 – 2002 BP TOP Eight Final with Chiefs and last seasons ABSA Cup Final with Ajax Cape Town), Ertugral still feels that his team will be tested again when they face Sundowns.

“This is not an easy game, we know we will be in another tough match just like we had against Ajax. If you want to win tournaments you need to beat whoever you are faced with and the boys will have to play with the same kind of zest and hunger that they did in the last round”.

Overall reaction

Reaction from the Chiefs camp in general was one of surprise as a number of the players and technical staff were waiting for the results. It went down with mixed results when they were given the news that Chiefs were facing Sundowns - assistant coach Fani Madida, for one, thought that the person giving him the information was kidding with him, while defender Fabian McCarthy was looking forward to the game and in addition believes that Chiefs enjoy playing Cup matches against tougher opposition.