Declarations of war were made on Tuesday by six representatives of the eight clubs that will be seeking a place in the semifinals of the Coca-Cola Cup when they meet this weekend.
Dynamos and Jomo Cosmos were not represented at the media briefing, despite being invited. That enabled their opponents to win the first round of their matches before their actual war.
Black Leopards’ public-relations officer Chief Thidiela warned Moroka Swallows that their superiority over his club will end when they meet at Thohoyandou Stadium on Thursday night.
Kick-off time is 7.30pm.
”Swallows have always beaten us 3-1 in our previous six encounters — be it home or away. But we are hoping to turn things around this time,” he said.
His opposite number at Swallows, Sipho Xulu, responded by firing his salvo at the sponsor for its television advert that Xulu deemed ”ill-conceived and showed total disrespect not to only us but to all other clubs” because it mentions Kaizer Chiefs and Silver Stars, and then refers to the rest of the clubs as ”others”.
”We will not allow any club to be a stumbling block because we want to stay in this Coke Cup until we are mentioned by our name, not as ‘others’.
”Our players and coach Gavin Hunt have already left for Thohoyandou to fine-tune our preparations there, just to show how seriously we treat this game,” he said.
The soft-spoken Farouk Khan, who deputised for Chiefs mentor Ted Dumitru, did not say much except that they, as the technical staff, have attended to the areas that needed to be worked on to ensure that Chiefs sail past Dynamos at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
The game will start at 3.15pm.
David Skhosana shocked everybody when he produced R10 000 in cash and challenged Cosmos to show their part since they had agreed to bet for their clash at Loftus Stadium, also on Saturday at 3.15pm.
”Where is Cosmos?” he demanded to know. ”Maybe they are still on their way to the bank — I don’t know. We respect them, yes, but if they think they will start registering victories at our expense, then they are definitely day-dreaming.”
The final clash of the quarterfinals pits Wits University against the star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns at Olympia Stadium in Rustenburg on Sunday.
The two clubs have shared the spoils since their 1-1 league game in few weeks ago but fierce competition is expected when they contest a place in the semifinal of the R2-million cup competition.
Kick-off time is 3.15pm.
Sundowns assistant coach Neil Tovey anticipated a tough game because he said Sundowns do not underestimate any team within the Premier Soccer League, while Roger de Sa, who has done a marvellous job with the no-big-name Wits, preferred to wait until Sunday.
Andrew Dipela warned that no plastic squeeze bottles will be allowed at any matches. This comes just after the league banned all plastic containers and tin cans following ugly scenes that were witnessed during a league derby between Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium a few weeks back. — Sapa