The two coaches faced a full house of members of the media at the PSL offices in Johannesburg at midday on Wednesday. The two coaches greeted each other and sat side by side as they faced the media. While today’s meeting went off with out any explosions it will be a different tale on Saturday afternoon at Ellis Park.

Chiefs coach Papic, who will be taking part in his fifth Soweto derby on Saturday, says he is concerned about the number of suspensions and injuries in his team but given the magnitude of the game his team will be up to the challenge.

"It was a catastrophe for us as three of our players on a second yellow, were booked on Sunday, which means that Shaun Bartlett, Gerald Sibeko and Jimmy Tau will be spectators on Saturday. Added to that there are injuries to Cyril Nzama who is definitely out of the game and Kaizer Junior who we will be monitoring right up until Saturday morning," said Papic.

Despite the setback, the Chiefs coach believes his team has what it takes to win the game, as he explained further; “every one at Chiefs wants to win this game and the players are aware that nothing more than a win is expected, we are playing for the honor and pride of Kaizer Chiefs.”

Pirates coach Bibey Mutombo kept his deliberation to the media down to a few short sentences when he said; “I have been part of big derby matches in the past in other countries, so I know what is at stake here as well as what we will need to be successful. I have told my team that I will only be using those players who have worked hard in training throughout the week.”

In other news related to Saturday’s game a spokesman for the PSL said; “We were informed just prior to this press conference that of the 48 000 tickets more than 40 000 tickets had been sold already. We are quiet sure that by the close of business on Wednesday all the tickets for the game will be sold out.”

It was also confirmed that tickets for the East stand of the stadium were allocated for Chiefs fans are close to being sold out. With the upper and lower East stands to be occupied by Chiefs fans a notice has been sent out informing them seats for the lower tier of the East stand have been sold out, while a few hundred tickets are still available for the upper East stand.

Fans attending the game in their private cars have been urged to use a number of park-and-ride facilities which have been set up around Johannesburg so as not to create congestion in around the Ellis Park precinct as there will be a number of road closures in effect on the day of game.

Park and Ride Points

Bezuidenhout Park, Bez Valley Johannesburg


National Exhibition Centre, Nasrec Road, Nasrec


Monte Casino William Nicol Road Fourways

Cost of parking at Bezuidenhout Park and Nasrec R 20 per car, while parking at Monte Casino will cost R40 per car.