Chippa Mpengesi used to walk several kilometres as a seven-year-old boy to watch soccer at a neighbour's house in Nqamakwe in Transkei.
He paid five cents to gain entry and watch his beloved Orlando Pirates on a small black and white TV. When it rained, the neighbour would not let him in, fearing his muddy feet would dirty the floor.
The young boy would trek back home to catch the match on radio.
"One of my heroes in that Pirates squad was Percy 'Chippa' Moloi".
Mpengesi gave himself Moloi's nickname "because one, I was not that good in playing football and two, all the best nicknames like Ace and Yster were already taken by my more talented friends".
Now a 40-year-old, Mpengesi has built a business empire. Among the bouquet is a soccer club he christened Chippa United. It is Percy's son, Teboho "Tebza" Moloi, who Mpengesi turned to when he sacked Dan "Dance" Malesela in September."I could not see Teboho's talent go to waste. I guess it's also the strong attachment because of what his father's name means to me. It was a huge factor. Let people judge, let them crucify me, I don't care.
"He has seen Pirates winning a treble and went to the Champions League final with Roger [de Sa] and Confed Cup final with [Eric] Tinkler."
The Chilli Boys are in a mood to tame alligators. They stunned Mamelodi Sundowns, booting the African champions out of the Telkom Knockout, their first victory in the competition. In midweek, they piled more misery on out-of-sorts South African champs Bidvest Wits, whom they beat 2-0.
Central to claiming those huge scalps was Samuel Julies, who scored all three goals in the last two games.
It is Julies who visitors Kaizer Chiefs must keep under lock and key when they clash with United in the TKO encounter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium this afternoon at 3.30pm.
Chiefs reached the quarterfinals with a 3-0 pasting of AmaZulu via George Maluleka, Hendrick Ekstein and Siphiwe Tshabalala's goals. Amakhosi have blown hot and cold, but they've strung together a four-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
With 30000 tickets sold for the game by Friday, the stage is set for Moloi to burst the Chiefs bubble. Mpengesi expects nothing less than victory.
"Teboho said to the boys: 'If you can beat the African and South African champions, what can stop you from beating Chiefs? I'm sure we will beat Kaizer Chiefs, I don't accept losing to Kaizer Chiefs."
It comes across as cocky. Gloating even. But Mpengesi has always been one to wear his heart on his sleeve.
bbk@sundaytimes.co.za..