8.15pm 3.30pm Ziwa Mo: here we go!

QUARTERFINALS: WITS WANT REVENGE AGAINST BAROKA, CHIPPA HOPE TO SEE OFF CHIEFS

Voluble Thobejane to lock horns with a seasoned Gavin Hunt.

Even by Premier Soccer League standards this has been a topsy-turvy season so far, making it all the more difficult to know how this weekend’s Telkom Knockout (TKO) quarterfinals are going to play out.

Who could have possibly predicted, for example, that around two-and-a-half months into this Absa Premiership season, Baroka FC would be top of the tree, with reigning league champions Bidvest Wits second-bottom?

Yet that is the situation as Wits host Baroka at Bidvest Stadium this evening for a place in the TKO semifinals. Baroka coach Kgoloko Thobejane is a man for bold declarations, and looked a bit silly last season when he claimed in February that a struggling Baroka could beat title-chasing Bidvest Wits 4-0 in a league match. The result? 5-0 to the Clever Boys.

This week, Thobejane was in fine form again, claiming that he is the best coach in the PSL, though this time, his confidence is in rhythm with his side’s performances. Baroka did lose 1-0 to Wits in a league match on October 22 in Polokwane, but they have been mostly sensational this season while the Clever Boys have looked a pale shadow of the side that won both the MTN8 and a first-ever top-flight league title in 2016/17.

Hunt could certainly build a decent argument that he is a better coach than Thobejane, with four Premiership titles to his name just for starters. At the moment, however, the Wits coach is unable to get any consistency in performance from his squad – they slumped to yet another defeat in midweek at home to Chippa United.

Speaking of Chippa, what a run Teboho Moloi’s side are on, with Cape Town City, Mamelodi Sundowns and Wits all taken down in a run of three consecutive victories. Next up for the Chilli Boys are Kaizer Chiefs in tomorrow’s TKO quarterfinal at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Moloi’s side are playing some delightful passing football at the moment, and Amakhosi will have to play well if there is not to be a giant-killing in the Eastern Cape, as there was against Masandawana in the last-16.

Chiefs played out a rather drab draw against Polokwane City in the league in midweek, and could do with rediscovering the kind of attacking flair that saw them past AmaZulu in the TKO last-16.

Orlando Pirates, meanwhile, need to bounce back from the defensive errors that cost them dearly in defeat at home to Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday evening, when they host Polokwane City in the TKO quarterfinals tonight.

And in today’s other TKO last eight match, Bloemfontein Celtic will look to continue their good run of form as they travel to play the league’s bottom side Platinum Stars. Roger de Sa’s side did, at least, get a first league win of the season against Ajax Cape Town on Wednesday.

See Pages 45 & 46