The Kaizer Chiefs entourage consisting of coach Ernst Middendorp, team manager Bobby Motaung and captain Cyril Nzama were early-risers on Monday morning as they left their base outside of Cape Town, and headed towards Newlands Stadium.

The Chiefs contingent were up early in order to beat the morning rush hour traffic as they appeared at a press conference with their counterparts from Manchester United at the Stadium where the two teams are due to meet on Tuesday evening. After exchanging pleasantries the two coaches took to the podium to face the media, Ernst Middendorp was accompanied on stage by Cyril Nzama and Bobby Motaung. The Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson had brought along with him midfielder Kieran Richardson to the media briefing.

Sir Alex Ferguson spoke first and said “we have a young team out here and some times they don’t give you what you hoping for, we are looking for a better performance than we had against Pirates on Saturday, we are looking towards improving our game”.

This was in reference to his teams 4-0 victory in their opening game of the Vodacom Challenge, on the issue of facing The Amakhosi on Tuesday he added “from the information I have been given I am told that Kaizer Chiefs are a tougher team than older Pirates and that we should be ready for a more competitive game which ultimately we will be”.

Kieran Richardson who played a mainly pedestrian part in the proceedings did add “I am very happy to be in South Africa and to have been able to tour in this part of the world, as a team we are grateful for the wonderful reception we have received from the people here”.

Amakhosi captain Cyril Nzama who looked unfazed from the glaring lights of the cameras said “as a team we have prepared hard for this game and we are in the fortunate position of having watched Manchester United play against Pirates. We are well aware of what we are up against and are confident that we can stop them from repeating what they did against Pirates, we will aim to achieve a commendable result for South African soccer”.

Amakhosi coach Ernst Middendorp not one to shy away from voicing his opinion was open in his commendation for Sir Alex’s team for their result against Pirates, he does believe that Chiefs can give the red devils a run for their Premiership pounds.

“We saw on Saturday that in the world game there is no time for this tsamaya football, you need to be direct in your approach and out think your opponent, there were many lessons to be learned from the game on Saturday and I hope my team have learned them from watching Saturday’s game”.

As the press conference wound down the Untied coach was handed a gift from Ernst Middendorp with the his name Sir Alex Ferguson emblazoned on the back, the United coach who has seen a lot in his tenure as the Manchester United coach was truly flustered when given a gift from his Kaizer Chiefs counterpart.

After the press conference the Manchester United Coach headed out on to pitch at Newlands where his team conducted a practise session to familiarize themselves with the surroundings.

The Amakhosi were meant to follow Manchester United with a practise session also scheduled for Newlands on Monday once United had finished theirs, instead Chiefs will train at Newlands on Tuesday morning and will conduct both their Monday morning sessions at the University of Stellenbosch where they have been training since last Thursday.