In what is nothing short of a promotional masterpiece, with something as mundane as a pre-season warm-up tournament transformed into something akin to a matter-of-life-and-death, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates will be seeking to restore their pride and that of the PSL when the annual Vodacom Challenge gets underway at Mmabatho on Sunday.

Despite the disadvantage of playing away from home, the Vodacom Challenge's distinctive Kudu Horn trophy has ended up in the hands of clubs outside South Africa's borders in the past two seasons.

And it is current holders A.S. Vita from the DRC who will, in fact, open the proceedings on Sunday (12.15pm) against Kaizer Chiefs, whom they shaded in last year's final after a tense, vacillating penalty shootout.

The second of the two semi-finals, before the final and third-place games are shuttled to Durban's King's Park Stadium next Sunday, will kick-off between Pirates and Green Buffaloes at 3.15pm.

Buffaloes, the first Zambian team to participate in the Vodacom Challenge, are something of an unknown quantity among the four competing clubs and almost anything can be expected from them.

A.S. Vita, on the other hand, have promised a "younger and better combination" that snared the Kudu Horn last year and are likely to test the mettle of a Chiefs' combination who will be playing under the guidance of new German-born coach, Ernst Middendorp, for the first time.

Pointedly, Chiefs will be near to full-strength after refusing to release any of their squad to play for Bafana Bafana in the Concacaf Gold Cup tournament, while Pirates, in contrast, have answered the call of "national duty" by allowing several key men to go to the United States.

It would be ironic, therefore, if the Buccaneers and not Chiefs ensured the Kudu Horn, as well as the tournament's winning prize of R1 million, remaining in South Africa.

Certainly, the sentimental support of neutrals will tend, in the circumstances, to go in favour of Pirates in view of their

unselfish loyalty to the national team.