Chiefs count injuries

2008-07-25 12:05

Pretoria - Kaizer Chiefs coach Muhsin Ertugral will be having a sleepless night on Friday sweating over the fitness of his two strikers, Jose Torrealba and Kaizer Motaung junior.

He needs both to be fighting fit to lead the Amakhosi attack against the kings of Europe Manchester United in the Vodacom Challenge final at Loftus on Saturday. Kick-off is at 15:30.

Chiefs won the right to play the newly crowned English Premiership and European Champions League champions at a sold out Loftus when Amakhosi outplayed their archrivals Orlando Pirates 2-0 in the Soweto Challenge Derby played at Port Elizabeth's EPRU Stadium on Thursday night.

But despite an easy win over Bucs, Ertugral was counting his walking wounded claiming that Pirates were kicking his players all over the pitch.

Said Ertugral: "I was furious by those tackles. It was a huge embarrassment. This type if play does not belong in South African soccer. Hopefully both Torrealba and Motaung will have recovered. But it will be a race against time."

Ertugral's Chiefs have been the better of the two Premier Soccer League sides in the Challenge.

Bucs coach Rudi Krol needs to start learning fast about local soccer if he is to survive. After Chiefs and United drew 1-1 in the opening Challenge clash at Newlands in Cape Town in a pulsating 90 minutes that had the capacity Newlands crowd on the edge of their seats, Krol fielded a reserve team against United in Durban on Tuesday and Bucs were beaten 1-0.

Showpiece final

Even bringing in 11 fresh players against Chiefs did not help Krol or Bucs as they were well beaten by a far better organised and professional Amakhosi.

Chiefs more than deserve the right to play the best team in Europe in a showpiece final with a guaranteed full house.

Said Ertugral: "It is a huge honour to play the best team in the world twice in the space of a week. We are keen to play them and learn from the experience."

Chiefs famously beat the Red Devils on a penalty shootout in the Challenge final two years ago at the same venue.

But Ertugral is a realist. He said: "Last time we played United they brought a second or more like a third string team. This time they have brought their best players. It is going to be another great game but I would be a fool to predict we could beat the best in the world in a final. We will certainly do our best."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said after playing both sides that he thought Pirates were the better of the two. He said this after beating Pirates. If Ferguson, known for playing mind games with opposing managers was trying to wind up Chiefs he has succeeded.

Clinical display

Said the most respected manager in British soccer: "Chiefs were the better side two years ago. But Pirates have closed the gap and are maybe now slightly ahead of Chiefs."

That sort of remark will help motivate Chiefs who not only matched United at Newlands but destroyed Pirates in a clinical display that showed Amakhosi are heading for bigger things under Ertugral in the Premier Soccer League this season.

However, United and Ferguson hate losing even friendly tournaments. Ertugral said he expected United to field his best side in Saturday?s final. That means that Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez will lead the attack with Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher in the midfield mix with Gary Neville, John O?Shea and Mikael Silvestre as a solid unit in defence

A daunting task for Chiefs but on their side will be their partisan fans in the capacity crowd raring them on. Torrealba has proved a good buy while Itumeleng Khune has shown he is the best goalkeeper in the country and has the ability to play in Europe.

Midfield Siphiwe Tshabalala has also caught the eye and he has grown in stature during this week. He can be relied on to play another big role on the left of midfield.

- SAPA