D-Day in Durbs

An early Christmas present of R4.5-million is waiting under the tree at Moses Mabhida stadium tomorrow night. Who will get to open it: Wits or Pirates?

The two teams also met in the 1995 final of what is effectively South African football's league cup competition. The competition was then under a different guise.

Sixteen years ago, it was Wits who walked off with the prize money, substantially less than tomorrow's cheque for the winners. Indeed, even the losers will get more than the 1995 winners received - R1.75-million.

That single triumph of 1995remains Wits' only cup victory, but it is one more than Pirates, who have never won it since the cup was inaugurated in 1992.

The most wins have come from Kaizer Chiefs, who won their ninth title last season when they beat Pirates in the final. This season, the Amakhosi were eliminated 2-1 in the first round by Platinum Stars, who in turn lost to Santos in a penalty shoot-out at the Athlone stadium last month.

To get an idea of how the Cup Final of 2011 will turn out, The Times went to the pitface and spoke to the two captains, Sifiso Myeni of Wits and Lucky Lekgwathi of Orlando Pirates.

Myeni, who will play in his second cup final in two seasons, said:

I think we have all the confidence because we beat them the last time around [Wits won 3-1 against the Buccaneers in a league game two weeks ago], but we are aware that it will be a bit difficult in a cup final.

It's not a league game, but both teams are playing away even though Pirates will feel more at home because they have played there before.

For some of our guys it will be their first time playing at the Moses Mabhida stadium, but we will help them stay calm. But we only need to look as far as the Nedbank Cup final last year [Wits beat Amazulu 3-0 at Soccer City], where we only got one training session on the pitch before the big day. Now it is time for us to go there as a team and fight.

As the captain I will have to work harder and try to create as many chances as possible and see what happens. I think Ryan Chapman will get a goal.

Pirates are favourites to win the final because of their last two league results. They have beaten Ajax CT and Supersport United in one week and that surely boosted their confidence.

Lekgwathi, who captained Pirates in their treble-winning season, said:

This will be our third Telkom Knockout final, having lost the first two against Ajax CT in 2008 and Kaizer Chiefs last year. We can't have that again. I think we also need to put history to bed and focus on winning this cup for our supporters and our injured player Happy Jele.

Benni McCarthy, Andile Jali, Rueben Cloete and I were not part of the league defeat to Wits two weeks ago. We are back to add depth tomorrow and also prove why Pirates had the best defence in the league last season when we won the Premier League.

The team will have their best four defenders in the line-up and a complete squad with the other players back. Wits were quick last time around and took advantage of our makeshift defence.

People are also talking about the form striker Ryan Chapman. He scored two goals against us and that is one player we need to keep an eye on. It is going to be difficult to play a team with so many youngsters, who are full of running and also hungry for success.

Pirates have experience on their side, and that could just be enough for us.