Mokete Tsotetsi was unable to celebrate his 25th birthday as it coincided with Chiefs match a week on the 14th November against Mamelodi Sundowns, instead he had to wait till close to midnight on Wednesday after returning with his team from the game to savour his cake.

While his birthday celebrations were put on ice, he did manage to have a rather belated birthday over the weekend.

With the ceremony of ringing in his 25th birthday now out of the way, Mokete was hard at work on Monday at training with his team mates and will be looking to convince coach Muhsin Ertugral that he will be able to do the business on Saturday against Pirates.

After an amazing start to his Chiefs career that saw him play in Chiefs first five league games of the season, and a total of seven matches in all competition this season, Mokete was omitted from Chiefs last two games, the Telkom Cup semifinal against Bloemfontein Celtic and last week's goalless ABSA Premier League draw with Mamelodi Sundowns.

Moketi a former Jomo Cosmos player knows all about the intensity that comes with such a fixture and would like for nothing more than to be part of the drama that will be the Soweto derby on Saturday.

All to do

Having had to watch Chiefs last two matches from the stands was hard for Mokete who is looking for a turn around in fortunes for this weekend's game, and the only way that can happen he believes is by convincing the coach before hand that he will be able to deal with the pressure cooker that is the Soweto derby.

Mokete added “I do feel that perhaps I was not at my best in recent matches and the coach felt the same and omitted me from the Celtic and Sundowns games. It was hard watching from the side lines as I felt that I should have been playing in those matches, as a player you wish to play in every match but that can not happen. It is up to me no to make sure the coach has no choice but to play me on Saturday, and I have begun that process by giving all I could in training on Monday”.

The past

Whenever Mokete and his former team Jomo Cosmos clashed with Orlando Pirates it always turned out to be an explosive affair. He enjoyed every minute of playing against Pirates as a Cosmos player given the rivalry between the teams. He wants desperately to be in the thick of battle when Chiefs and Pirates restore their battle of supremacy in Soweto when the teams clash in Durban.

As he said, “playing in these games that pits two teams up against each other who are part of an old age dual is what every footballer wants to be in.

The Soweto derby is a festival and when I was with Cosmos we all wanted to play whenever the Pirates game came around, that rivalry is not half as intense as the Chiefs Pirates rivalry. Just being part of the festival on Saturday, hearing the roar of the fans seeing the colour inside the tension filled stadium will be wonderful”.