As I left East London on Thursday morning, I was greeted by many Chiefs fans who had looks of disappointment and disdain etched on their faces. Generally the supporters I met on my way back home at the Airport and on the plane were just plain upset. The reason for such an atmosphere was due to the fact that Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates had won their midweek PSL matches against Bush Bucks, a game which I attended, and Golden Arrows respectively.

We are aware of the task ahead of us should we wish to retain our title. The first step is for us to treat our remaining four league games as cup matches and not allow ourselves to slip up at any time over these games. All of them will be treated with high importance and we will go out to win them and with it take the maximum points home. Should we succeed in this – we will then force the title to go down to the wire. If we win our games then all the pressure will be back on the opposition as they will have to catch up and the chances of them making mistakes and dropping points increases.

For us to be successful we need your continued support as you have been reaching out to the team over the season. We are now more than ever in need of your attendance at our remaining matches. Come to the stadium dressed in gold and black and for the entire ninety minutes keep the noise going in order to lift your team towards victory. The players do get affected by the atmosphere in the stadium and let us ensure that it is a positive and a happy one. The first step to victory is our supporters lifting up the spirits of the players and no soccer player enjoys playing in front of a small crowd especially with the season at the stage it is at. My appeal to you all is, “Come to the stadium, bring all your friends with you and make as much noise as you possibly can.”

When it comes to team news we are almost back to full strength. Gert Schalkwyk has overcome the hamstring injury he was suffering from a week ago. Gert has been training at full stretch for most of the week and will be available for Sunday’s game. David Mathebula, though, is still unavailable. Once more my condolences to him on the loss of his mother. She will be laid to rest in Giyani some time on Saturday afternoon. We do have a group of players going over for the funeral to lend support to David, and we are expecting him to return for training on Monday.

We will be without Serge Djiehoua for the Classic game. Do not panic; it is not injury related, he is serving a one-match suspension for collecting his third yellow card of the season against Pillars in the ABSA Cup. Thabo Mooki has also made good progress and began full training with the rest of the team on Friday morning, and as things stand I understand he could be available for selection for next week’s game against Bush Bucks.

To Sunday’s game, what more can I say than we will win, not because we think we are better than Classic, the hunger in us to hold on to our title is there and we do not want to lose the grip on it. Classic are struggling at the moment and I believe they have gotten three points out of their last five games. They are at the foot end of the table and we need to take advantage of that fact, from what I have seen in some of their recent league games their defence does not look particularly strong and we need to slot home the early chances that could fall our way. They do possess one player who I feel is particularly dangerous and that is Collen Zimba, who recently scored a well-taken goal against Ajax in an ABSA Cup game.

I will talk to you all again on Monday, do come down to the Kings Park Soccer Stadium if you happen to be in and around Durban anytime on Sunday, kick-off is at 15h15 in the afternoon and I would like to see the stadium packed to the rafters.

Keep up the Love, Peace and the Goals.

Ernst Middendorp


Kaizer Chiefs Head Coach