Swallows were given the opportunity to train first on at the venue, where they will meet The Amakhosi on Sunday. Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp is confident that this will be the only occasion that Chiefs will be following Swallows lead this weekend as the semifinal draws near.

Chiefs midday training session on Saturday was held in the kind of climatic conditions that they could face on Sunday afternoon, although the weather forecast has said that they is a 30% chance of rain on Sunday.

When the Amakhosi took the ABSA Stadium pitch for their final practise session on Saturday, there was not a cloud in the sky over the Stadium as they trained in hot and humid conditions.

Over the past couple of weeks many of the coaches around the PSL have made their voices heard, on the issue of teams having to play games on substandard surfaces. Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp, who has also raised concerns over some of the playing surfaces that his team have been subjected to playing on, pronounced himself happy with the state of the ABSA Stadium pitch. Although the grass at the time of Chiefs training session was longer that it will be for the match as the ground staff did do some landscaping work on the field late Saturday afternoon.

After the training session Ernst Middendorp was convinced that The Amakhosi have the beating of Swallows on Sunday afternoon saying “our training session on Saturday centred a lot around tactics for the game, I do have the outline as to who will start against Swallows. Obviously our past couple of performances will have an effect on who starts and also our general approach for the game is differentl. We will aim to score as many goals as possible and make our early chances count and also not to be in a position where we have to chase the game”.

While the rest of the team took time off to contemplate Sunday’s game, Ernst Middendorp and his assistant coach Frank Eulberg took time out to watch the other SAA Supa8 semifinal, between Tshwane rivals Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United. Although his mind is on Swallows, one would hope that the Chiefs coach had the opportunity to assess the team he will be facing in the final next month.