Orlando Pirates vs Kaizer Chiefs is not just the biggest game of the season for the clubs’ players and fans, it gets everyone from giant corporations to street hawkers excited. Saturday’s game at Soccer City is crucial to both teams, firstly because of the points at stake a Pirates win will see them on top of the league table, while a Chiefs win will enable them to keep their championship hopes alive to retain the league title.

Supersport United are living up to their name under the tutelage of Pitso Mosimane. The youngest coach in the Premier Soccer League has taken a team that faced relegation four seasons ago to one that has been twice runners-up for the league title and has been in the top four for the past three seasons.

The Coca-Cola Cup is expected to provide soccer lovers with scintillating football for the next few weeks. At stake for the 16 premier league clubs participating in the tournament is the R2-million cheque on offer for the winners and a chance to take part in one of the continental cup competitions.

So far, so good, for Stuart Baxter and Bafana Bafana, who ended the first round of 2006 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers on a high note. The 1-0 win against Uganda was significant in that they finally managed to win an away game – the first team in Group 2 to do so.

The time has come for the Bafana Bafana players to show the nation what they’re made of. The team needs to produce some winning performances to ensure qualification for the 2006 World Cup and African Cup of Nations. This must start on Sunday with the crucial qualifier against Uganda in Kampala.

This week the financially troubled South African Football Association (Safa) got a vote of confidence when LG Electronics decided to become the official supplier to Bafana Bafana and Safa. The sponsorship will see Safa get R10-million a year for the next three years and South Africa host next year’s four-nations LG Cup.

Kaizer Chiefs enter this weekend’s South African Airways Supa 8 final against Supersport United looking to re-establish a tradition and, at the same time, overcome a hoodoo. Since the reinstatement of this competition in the 2000/01 season after a four-year absence, no reigning league champion has managed to add the Top 8 to the trophy cabinet — something that used to happen regularly.

Unbelievable as it may seem, the last time that Moroka Swallows met Kaizer Chiefs in a major cup competition was 17 years ago, when Chiefs won 3-1 on aggregate in the two-legged final of the Ohlssons Cup. The first leg (won 2-1 by Chiefs) was at Kings Park in Durban. Those who were there in 1987 say that game was the most memorable match played between the two sides, and the two legs are said to have recorded the biggest aggregate crowd in South African football history — 130 000 people.

The South African women’s national soccer team, Banyana Banyana, are aiming to win the fourth African Women’s championship, but with inept preparations, a coach that will not be at their opening game and a national body that does not take women’s soccer seriously, there is little chance of the side being crowned queens of Africa.

With two crucial World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers coming up, Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter will have to find himself a consistent squad. Starting on Sunday against the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Bafana Bafana must get maximum points to keep them on top of the table.