We are half way through a week that will culminate with us participating in the 2006 Telkom Charity Cup, I am proud to be participating in this tournament over the coming weekend for one reason and that is some of the proceeds from the vote lines and the takings at the gates will be donated to various charities.

To be part of an event that will hopefully contribute meaningfully to people’s lives is something I would always want to be a part of.

Our charitable contributions will be left at the entrance to the stadium and there will be no quarter given from us to Sundowns on the field of play - we are working hard for this game on Saturday and I believe we will be well prepared.

We will approach Saturday’s game in the same manner that we did our game against Manchester United, the key factors for us will be for the guys to remain calm and not get overexcited. They must be confident, not be overawed and walk in with the same mindset that no matter who we play against we will not be overrun and will give a good account for ourselves.

Sundowns obviously will not be taking us lightly and we won’t be taking them for granted either. They are the defending Charity Cup Champions and we want would like to bring the Telkom Charity Cup to the village.

With regards to our preparations for the game everything is on track and apart from Kaizer Motaung Junior who was out of action on Wednesday as he was suffering from a bout of flu, we have a clean bill of health.

Having a full strength team to choose from is a good thing for me as it opens up my options for this weekend’s games, finding a balance when selecting your teams for such a tournament.

The possibility of playing two games in a day is a tough one. It is not easy playing in the morning and again in the afternoon so it is very likely that we will be rotating players around and again giving as many guys the opportunity to play on Saturday.

Moving a bit ahead of Sundowns, we have been given the information that we will face Golden Arrows at home on the 12th August when we begin our charge for the SAA Supa8 trophy.

Arrows proved to us last season that they are the kind of team who can spring many surprises on the opposition.

We have an advantage and that is that the game will be a home one for us - it would not have made much of a difference to us if the game had been in Durban.

With the cold weather we are currently experiencing in Johannesburg, it might have been a better idea to go to the sunnier climate of Kwa-Zulu Natal. As it stands we will face them in Johannesburg.

So, in conclusion we have not won the Telkom Charity since 2003 when we defeated of all teams Mamelodi Sundowns by a goal to nil, we lost the next Telkom Charity Cup Final in 2004 to Sundowns on a penalty shootout.

The longest Chiefs have stayed without being Champions of the Charity spectacular was when they won it in 1998 and had to wait four years to 2002 before being able to return with trophy.

For us we have a couple of goals for Saturday’s game and we hope they will all be in the Sundowns net, getting the upper hand against the team that I feel will be our fiercest rivals in the league can not be emphasized more. We know that Sundowns were not too happy that we defeated them in the ABSA Cup semi final which ended their hopes of a league and cup double, so we will be prepared for a backlash from them.

To all the supporters you know that you are important to our success and we will need you in full hue and cry on Saturday when we play Sundowns.

Come early to the game and from our side I cannot make any promises but be rest assured that we will give the PSL Champions a good run for ninety minutes and we will be aiming to finish off the game inside ninety minutes and would not like the game to go to a shoot out.

Yours for the Charity Cup

Ernst Middendorp