Amakhosi midfielder Gerald Sibeko was on the bench when Chiefs were defeated on penalties at the Newlands Rugby Stadium in Cape Town by Ajax in the second round of the ABSA Cup. A season later and Ajax managed to repeat that feat this time again deposing of Chiefs in the second round of the same competition by a goal to nil in Mmabatho.

The diminutive midfielder who was on the bench during the 2002 – 2003 Cup loss at Newlands believes that things will be a whole lot different when The Amakhosi meet Ajax in the round of 32 in a Nedbank Cup match in Durban.

Sibeko who scored two goals for Chiefs at the weekend believes that going into the game as the under dogs will be an advantage for Chiefs, and they will be aiming to make it third time unlucky for Ajax and wipe away the 2002 – 2003 and 2004 – 2005 ABSA/Nedbank Cup loses. Chiefs fundamentally go into the match as underdogs and Sibeko feels that is exactly the way they would want it.

Less than favourites

Chiefs according to Sibeko relish playing Cup matches in particular against the biggest team, and in his experience campaigning in various tournaments with The Amakhosi, going into a match as the underdog drives and adds to the team's motivation to want to do well in the match.

Sibeko said of this “going into this game and not being labeled as the favorites actually gives us the edge, we love playing teams who are on form as it does something to us and helps us bring our best game to the park. We showed in the Telkom Cup that we enjoy playing tough matches and are able to better deal with PSL teams than those from the lower divisions, as we are more serious and focused in our preparations.

Level matters

As it stands Chiefs and Ajax have since 1999 played each other in five cup games with the Urban Warriors having won three of those, while The Amakhosi did manage to beat them twice over the past nine years.

Sibeko believes win number three is not impossible as he explained “we have to believe in our own abilities and believe that we can win the game. Sunday’s victory over Stars has helped install that sense of self belief with in the guys that no matter who the opponent ease, if we stick to the basics we can come away victorious”.

Confidence up

Prior to the Stars game, Sibeko was feeling the strain as Chiefs drew two and lost one of their previous three league matches. Since the weekend things have been pretty different according to him. As he added “when the team is struggling every one takes strain and the frustration wears you thin, Sunday was a turning point for us and for me in particular scoring those two goals against Stars has helped me get my own confidence back. In all the guys are really fired up and raring to go for the Friday game against Ajax, in 2005 – 2006 we knocked out SuperSport and they were the defending champions. We then raced all the way to the final there is nothing stopping us from doing the same”.