Amakhosi captain Cyril Nzama has described his call-up by caretaker Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane as a ‘major surprise’ and totally unexpected. The Amakhosi skipper was caught totally off guard when Mosimane called out his name at a press conference to announce his squad.

Mosimane named Nzama, who last represented South Africa in a FIFA World Cup Qualifying Game against Uganda in March 2003, this past Tuesday, along with three other Chiefs players in a twenty-one-man squad who will face Namibia in a friendly game on Wednesday evening in Windhoek.

Nzama, who has made a total of thirty four appearances since making his debut for the national team in April 2000 against Lesotho in Maseru, with his call up has been given a confidence booster ahead of Chiefs SAA Supa8 opener against Golden Arrows on Saturday. The Chiefs captain says the confidence shown in him by Mosimane has most definitely raised his spirits “this call up initially hit me like a bolt from the blue, what it has done is raise my confidence”.

The enthusiastic thirty two year old Chiefs captain says that his focus at the moment is on Golden Arrows and all the good things currently happening in his life will carry over into a victorious performance on Saturday. “This call up has done a lot for my confidence and I know that against Arrows all of the positive energy I have will come to good use, our aim is to take everything game by game let me get past Arrows then I will put Namibia on my radar” added Nzama.

When it comes to the Supa8 competition, Nzama has fond memories as he scored a late goal against Sundowns in the final which forced a penalty shoot out, where Chiefs prevailed to win the cup when it was still known as the BP Top Eight Competition. That was five years ago and Nzama is itching to get his hands on the Supa8 trophy this year “before the 2001 and 2004 tournaments which we won and were finalists I had a feeling we were going to well in those years and I have the same feeling again this time around” said Nzama.

Chiefs will be looking to bounce back to winning ways as they officially begin the 2006-07 season on Saturday, albeit in a cup competition. With confidence up again in the Chiefs ranks after defeats in friendly games in recent weeks against Moroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns The Amakhosi will be out to keep their 100% record against Golden Arrows in Cup matches intact as they go for their third consecutive victory against the coastal team in a cup game.

The Amakhosi will be hoping that Ernst Middendorp will bring his luck which has so far worked like a charm against Arrows as he himself can put forward a 100% win rate against Arrows. All the numbers off the pitch favour The Amakhosi and they will be hoping that those on the score board at the FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon will also ring out favourably for Chiefs.