Soweto derby is the ‘Mother of all Battles’

Coach admits there’s much at stake for Chiefs in clash with Pirates

Saturday’s Soweto derby is not just a game – it is “The Game”‚ Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas said‚ adding it should be spelt with a capital ‘G’.

Reflecting on what is at stake as Chiefs meet Pirates for the second time this season in Saturday’s Telkom Knockout semifinal at Moses Mabhida Stadium‚ Solinas admitted that for Amakhosi‚ and perhaps himself‚ the match-up was a particularly big one.

Solinas lost his first derby 2-1 in the league at FNB Stadium on October 27. And derby defeats never go down too well for Chiefs’ success-hungry supporters.

Added to that‚ Amakhosi have not won a trophy in threeand-a-half seasons now.

Solinas‚ in his first season‚ has already spurned one chance to rectify that by losing over two legs of the MTN8 semifinals.

He will know that‚ with Chiefs’ league form a mixed bag, to see Amakhosi in fifth place in the Absa Premiership despite some strong signings‚ a second semifinal exit of the season – especially at the hands of Pirates – will make his position at Naturena just that bit more tenuous.

He admitted as much‚ saying at Thursday’s pre-derby press conference at the PSL offices in Parktown: “But this is not a game – this is ‘The Game’.

“This is the game with a capital letter ‘G’.

“And we arrive in this game much better than last time, because last time we had players injured‚ we had players not training for five or six days.

“For example Khama [Billiat] – we had a problem with Khama‚ who had not trained for six days. He trained only on the day before the derby.

“In the last derby we did not

All players are available. The fitness of the players is OK. This is a big positive

have Lebogang Manyama. But generally the condition in the last derby was not good.

“Now it’s much better because all players are available.

“The fitness of the players is OK. This for me is a very big positive.

“You know we are Kaizer

Chiefs.

“Kaizer Chiefs need to play to win,” he said.

Saturday’s semifinal will be staged in Durban as the FNB Stadium was unavailable due to an already-booked prayer meeting.

Picture: GALLO IMAGES IN A GOOD SPACE: Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas is confident of a stronger performance from his team, especially with all players fit and ready to play.