Posted in News on Jul 29, 2006.
Chiefs pre-season preparations have already taken them to four provinces namely the North West, Limpopo, Gauteng and Western Cape and has seen them pick up two trophies thus far in the form of the Limpopo Soccer Challenge and Vodacom Challenge.
Ernst Middendorp has stressed that he needed to do a lot of ground work as the pre-season campaign would help lay the foundations of a good start and strong finish to the league season.
The Amakhosi coach who said on Friday after his charges had gone through a tough training session once again reiterated these thoughts. “So far we have had a well orchestrated pre season with opposition that has really varied in strength and it has given us a lot to contemplate over so far, the team in not the finished product” said Ernst.
The coach is hoping to further prepare his team for the start of the new season, which will take place some time in August when Chiefs begin with the SAA Supa8 before the PSL league begins on August 27th when Chiefs play SuperSport United.
The coach is looking forward to taking on a vastly different looking Moroka Swallows team on Sunday afternoon adding “from our side we are happy to play tough games, Swallows have added to their arsenal and I am sure some of our guys who have signed with them will be looking to impress against us.
Ernst will again be looking to give a host of different players a chance in the sun on Sunday commenting “ again I must state that so far we have used the pre – season matches with good effect in giving most of our squad the chance to play we will want to give those who have not played at all some game time on Sunday”.
He also been further pleased with the fact that he has been able to experiment with a host of various tactics and such in the past couple of games, which he hopes to carry through to Sunday. Saying “we will use the Bloemfontein games to once again work out tactics and combinations and it will help us again to see what is working for us or not. Hopefully we will have the Telkom Charity Cup next weekend which will help us round off our pre season preparations”
Goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez has no qualms about making way to give new goalkeeper Ryan Wuest or Itumeleng Khune a chance to stand in goal for him “we have had a tough couple of weeks of training and matches and from what the coach has been saying to us I do not have a problem with the coach giving Ryan or Itumeleng a chance to play.
Actually if you look at it, it is a good thing because the guys will be match fit and it will get their confidence up also. Personally I am feeling strong and having played five matches so far and with the Telkom Charity Cup to come I think I should have enough game time under my belt to be as sharp as I have to be” said Fernandez.
The Amakhosi will depart for Bloemfontein at midday on Saturday afternoon after a morning training session, which will be conducted at the clubs base in Naturena South of Johannesburg. Chiefs will be in action at 10h00 am on Sunday Morning in the first game of the cup and will be followed by a game between Bloemfontein Celtic and SuperSport United at 12h00. The winners of the two semi-finals will play each other in the Final, which will kick off at 17h00. All the games will be played at Vodacom Park (formerly Free State Rugby Stadium) in Bloemfontein.
Mangaung Tournament Fixtures
30th July 2006
Match 1: Kaizer Chiefs Vs Moroka Swallows 10H00
Match 2: Bloemfontein Celtic Vs Super Sport United 12H00
Match 3: Winner Match 1 Vs Winner Match 2 17h00
