It’s the start of another week and we are looking forward to our league game against Bloemfontein Celtic on Wednesday. But first, let’s talk about the Telkom Knockout draw that was conducted on Monday.

Am I happy with the draw? Well, it’s not even about that. At this stage it doesn’t matter who you play against. Silver Stars are a quality side and they have done well in the league and you have to respect them for that.

It’s not an easy draw and definitely not easy going and we have to perform very well to be successful. You only have to look at their current league positions to understand what we are dealing with. But it doesn’t matter whether it’s Silver Star or Sundowns if you want to win the cup you have to work hard.

We are playing this quarterfinal match away from home but we are familiar with Rustenburg. I think it’s a nice surrounding and a good field and it’s a pleasure to play there. Our supporters are always fantastic regardless of where we play at the same time they expect a lot. In the end it’s about the team and how we play and how we perform.

Sure we are two games away from the final but we are not even thinking about that now. Our focus is on the next game and our next game is a league encounter against Celtic. We take it each game as it comes and are completely focused on this game.

We are currently not in a comfortable position on the log and we really have to come back with maximum points.

Scara is back from suspension and will be available for this match and with Siyabonga Nkosi it looks like we will only make a final decision later after training. Thabo Mooki is a little bit critical after being off for more than a week with flu. He will not be part of the team for the Celtic match after training only once with the team. But all the other guys are available.

We shouldn’t worry too much about the log position at the moment. Look at Pirates. They are bottom of the log with a number of games in hand and if you win three or four matches you are suddenly in another position. Let us not look at where you are now or where you will be after the match against Celtic.

We still have one or two training sessions before we head off to Bloemfontein. They have a good support base there and we hope to silence them this time and create some happy moments for our own supporters.

Love and Peace!

Ersnt Middendorp


Kaizer Chiefs Head Coach