Posted in News on Oct 23, 2006.
In truth the Cup Final was won way before kick-off. Actually we won the game when we entered the field for the warm-up, as the atmosphere was really electric. The Stadium was abuzz and the crowd had the Mexican wave going. I must say that to date I have not experienced such and atmosphere is a stadium in South Africa.
Coming out on the pitch for the warm-up and being received in such a manner by the fans, really put the guys at ease. Pitso Mosimane was saying before the game that the stadium would be painted yellow. How right he was as it was awash with our fans who were really in a buoyant mood from the onset, the positive mood in the stands ran down to the players who just felt comfortable, once the warm up had been concluded. Knowing that with the kind of support we had in the stands there was no way we were going to lose the game.
Let’s talk about some of my pre-match decisions, firstly there has been a lot of talk about me playing Rotson Kilambe, how it was possible to start a Cup Final with a player who had been out of competitive action since May.
It is really simple - Rotson joined us some time in August and at that time I knew he would need some time to get his fitness and shape back, in the past couple of weeks I continuously monitored his progress and it was clear that he was close to his best. Many are saying that playing him was a gamble that paid off. I felt that going into the game we needed forwards who would play in a central striking position.
Kaizer Junior and David Radebe are not strikers who play in central scoring positions, they prefer to play wide and I felt that if we were to defeat SuperSport we needed to go at them. I must add that Rotson and Shaun teamed up well and that Kilambe thought off his feet and reacted quickly when the ball fell to him, he really took his goal well considering the pressure he was under. There is however ample room for improvement on Rotson’s side. He still needs to work on his fitness and his general sharpness in front of goal, although the initial signs are good he still has a way to go.
There has also been a lot of talk recently about the fact that we change our team so often but if you look at the fact that our back four plus the goalkeeper, have stayed the same recently.
You will see that fact has been the backbone behind our recent resurgence, and the up tide in current results has been because of the fact that we have stuck with these five players. In midfield we moved things around and brought Tinashe back in, Jimmy Tau did well in that position the previous week but I felt that Tinashe was in good nick and perhaps shaded Jimmy slightly in my mind and therefore got the go ahead to start.
On the game itself I do think, and it is a feeling that I have had for a while, that we are too slow out of the starting blocks and we need to start games off on a faster pace. We were on the back foot in the first half and had to crawl our way slowly into the game. I am not happy with this because it does put us under a lot of pressure especially if the opposition does score.
If we need to be critical of ourselves this should be something we seriously need to look at, from the time the referee sound his whistle we need to run at the opposition. SuperSport had a couple of shots at goal in the first half and thank fully we dealt with them and Rowen made one particularly telling save on the stroke of halftime, collecting the ball through a bevy of bodies off a Teko Modise shot.
At half time we had a real heart-to-heart with the guys and whatever was discussed seemed to pay off, as they came out fighting in the second half and we really played and amazing game in the second forty five minutes on Saturday.
We looked more determined, motivated and possessed a renewed hunger to be successful in the second half. Our midfielders - Gert Schalkwyk, Scara Ngobese and Arthur Zwane - all came good in the second period and really got the ball to our front man in dangerous situations. Scara’s trickery, I must say, helped us get the goal as he weaved passed the SuperSport defence, and played the ball across the goal which Kilambe eventually stuck away.
Football is such a game that with one conquest over you begin to look at the next one, for us that comes this Saturday in Johannesburg against Wits University in the Telkom Cup. Our aim this year is simple and that is to win everything, playing against teams like Wits hot on the heels of a Cup Final triumph is not going to be easy, as Wits will want to show up the new SAA Supa8 Champions.
We have learned our lesson when playing against smaller teams and not to take them for granted, as Wits showed us when they defeated us in a league game in September. For them it is a challenge to face up to the new SAA Supa8 Champions, for us the challenge is to overcome them and get to the quarterfinals. We have gained a lot of momentum from winning the Supa8 and we will carry that through with us into this game, another factor that can guide us to victory over Wits will be the fan factor.
Johannesburg Stadium is in a highly densely populated part of the city and is really easily accessible to many Chiefs fans, who can take a short walk to the Stadium and this time we want them to once again paint the town yellow. When we played a league game at the same venue against Moroka Swallows a year ago, I was really amazed to see the number of fans who were able to gain access to the stadium so easily.
On the back of our success in the SAA Supa8 Cup I am confident that we will have all our fans out in vast number on Saturday afternoon, as we want to turn the city of gold into a city of goals. I am not looking at the game as trying to gain revenge over Wits for the loss they inflicted upon us in the league game in September, that game is history and I feel as a team we have been able to move on with great success from that game. They whole composition of Saturday’s game is different we are and improving team, growing in strength as well as character and will do our best to get past Wits and into the quarterfinals.
Till Saturday keep well and set aside some money to purchase a ticket for the game, from our side the players have been given the day off on Monday, as they were away from their families since last Wednesday.
With us only getting back late on Sunday from Durban, it was only fair of us to give them a day off on Monday to celebrate with their families and take care of other personal matters. We will be back again on the training ground on Tuesday and will begin the hard work for the Telkom Cup game against Wits.
For now that’s it
Yours in victory
Ernst Middendorp
