Bring them on. That was Kaizer Chiefs coach Vladimir Vermezovic’s reaction after his side drew a tough Telkom Knockout semifinal showdown against arch rivals Orlando Pirates over the Easter weekend.
Chiefs earned their passage into the semifinals of the Cup after brushing aside Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 — much easier than the score line suggests — in front of a capacity 28 000 crowd at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Sunday.
Pirates sailed into the last four of the Knockout after defeating Jomo Cosmos 2-1 at the Rand Stadium on Saturday night.
But stressed Vermezovic: “I was delighted with the way we played in beating both Santos and Sundowns to get to the semifinals, but there is plenty of room for improvement before we play Pirates.”
In the other semifinal Ajax Cape Town will meet AmaZulu. The Urban Warriors beat Golden Arrows 2-1 at Newlands on Sunday while Usuthu won through on a 4-1 penalty shootout victory over SuperSport United after the teams were tied 2-2 after extra time in their match, also played at the Super Stadium, on Saturday.
The fans are the big winner, said the Chiefs coach afterwards. “It is a bonus having an extra Soweto Derby for the fans, and it is one more step for us towards the cup final.”
Vermezovic said after the easy win over Sundowns that he was not worried about facing Pirates: “We know each other so well. We have drawn both league matches this season. But now this time there has to be a winner and I intend making sure Chiefs go through to the final.”
The PSL will announce the two neutral venues in Durban and Bloemfontein on Monday afternoon with the Soweto Derby Knockout semifinal likely to be played at the new Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
The venue is one of the new purpose build stadiums for June’s World Cup finals and a Chiefs-Pirates semifinal will attract a sellout crowd.
Said Vermezovic: “I do not mind where we play as we are comfortable at any ground in the country.”
Against Downs Vermezovic showed faith in the players who defeated Santos away on a penalty shootout by resisting the temptation to bring back midfield dynamo Tinashe Nengomasha, and experienced defender Valery Nahayo, after both players missed the Santos clash through suspension.
Vermezovic’s decision to leave out Nengomasha and field the same line up that got past Santos was justified.
“The players did Chiefs proud. We could have scored a lot more goals but at the end of the day one is enough in a cup match,” said the Chiefs coach.
However, Zimbabwean star Nengomasha, will return to the side to meet Pirates after Josta Dladla picked up a third yellow card on Sunday and faces an automatic one match suspension.
But apart from that he will not be making any other changes at this stage. So much were Chiefs in control that goalkeeper Arthur Bartman did not have one save to make during the match.
Bucs coach Ruud Krol watched Chiefs down Sundowns and would have left the jam-packed Super Stadium impressed by the amount of scoring chances Amakhosi created.
Vermezovic revealed afterwards he was set to replace a tiring Mandla Masango with Jose Torrealba just before Masango scored the only goal seven minutes from time.
“Masango was getting tired and I wanted to bring on fresh legs. However, I was glad I waited a few moments as he scored and that goal took us into the semifinals,” he said. — Sapa