“Khuzwayo injured his hand in training last night,” laments Steve Komphela. “He fractured his finger just above the knuckles.” Subsequently, the Medical Team reports, “Khuzwayo will go under the knife on Monday.” Chiefs take on their archrivals Orlando Pirates in the Carling Black Label Cup derby match on Saturday.

“Reyaad is ready and equal to the task,” assures Komphela. “We have to remember that and give credit to Reyaad for always when he comes on, he does work for us.” Khuzwayo came out tops in the final vote count with a whopping 624359 far ahead compared to the rest of his peers.

“Tomorrow is about the supporters,” confirms Komphela. “It will be nice to see the day perfectly going well. We want the supporters to enjoy the day. We plan to end the day in a manner that the supporters will be happy with.”

“Sidney (Champion Coach) has a good knowledge of football,” enthuses Komphela about Sidney Molepo who emerged as a successful candidate to experience the Chiefs setup. “He has an in-depth knowledge of the team. He is a great supporter of the team.”

“I feel awesome,” responds Sidney. “This is a dream come true. Who said dreams don’t come true? For me, I saw the players and coach today, they are professionals and work very hard to prepare for the match.”

Sidney enjoyed the privilege of meeting and greeting the team this morning at the pre-match training held at the FNB Stadium. “I think there’s much work going through the preparations. When you watch at home, you don’t see what goes on in the preparations.”

Tickets are sold out for the match. “We are going to see a record breaking support tomorrow. We want to score goals and win the match,” promises Sidney.

Full team stats for Kaizer Chiefs votes for starting 11:

Goalkeeper: Khuzwayo (624359) (Injured for the match); Defenders: Moleko (36677), Masilela (95048), Gaxa (69070), Xulu (93832); Midfield: Maluleka (99169), Letsholonyane (68726), Tshabalala (68726), Lebese (6838); Striker: Parker (109024), Zulu (75072)

The starting line ups for the two teams as voted by the public are:

Chiefs: Goalkeeper: Khuzwayo; Defenders: Moleko, Gaxa, Xulu, Masilela; Midfielders: Tshabalala, Letsholonyane, Maluleka, Lebese; Strikers: Zulu, Parker

Pirates: Goalkeeper: Mhlongo; Defenders: Jele, Gumede, Sangweni, Phungwayo; Midfield: Myeni, Sarr, Manyisa, Rakhale; Strikers: Erasmus, Majoro

The sold out match is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 1 August at the iconic FNB Stadium, kick-off is at 15:30.