The sold-out signs went up two hours after the ticket sales opened, a signal that the Soweto derby is regaining the lustre it looked to have lost.
Welcome to the Moses Mabhida Stadium for the Battle of the Barren Boys.
Introducing, in the gold and black corner, Kaizer Chiefs, the Glamour Boys without a trophy for three years.
On the opposite black and white end, it's Orlando Pirates, the Sea Robbers sans silverware for four seasons.
GIOVANNI THE TINKERMAN
They meet in the Telkom Knockout semifinal on Saturday as they stand two steps away from satisfying their trophy-thirsty supporters.
On the evidence of their league form, these rivals are like chalk and cheese.
Chiefs are confusion in motion. You just don't know which line-up will show up.
Coach Giovanni Solinas has cast himself in the role of the local version of Claudio Ranieri, the original Tinkerman.
Not shy to make seven changes to his starting 11, Solinas gets saluted as one who goes about his business with brazen assurance when his tinkering pans out.
When the chopping and changing flops, the Italian has been pummelled as a naive plumber devoid of tactical potency.
By contrast, Pirates are sailing in calm waters. Bucs went into the international break top of the Absa Premiership table on 23 points, three more than Bidvest Wits - who have played two games fewer - and five ahead of Chiefs who, like Pirates, have played 13 rounds of matches.
TACTICAL CURRENCY
Pirates won the battle of the brains trust, emerging 2-1 winners when the Soweto sides locked horns in the derby late last month. But their tactical currency yielded bankruptcy against Mamelodi Sundowns as Pitso Mosimane showed Solinas how to stop the Pirates juggernaut.
Put Xola Mlambo in the back pocket. Force midfield enforcer Ben Motshwari onto the backfoot. Forbid leftback Innocent Maela from making a nuisance of himself with his trademark marauding-forward forays.
Close the channels for Vincent Pule and Thembinkosi Lorch to stifle their blistering pace.
Such stumbling blocks were a surefire way of starving Justin Shonga of a decent supply from which he is capable of causing carnage.
Chiefs have to come up with a plan equally capable of creating a similar conundrum to curb Pirates' creative flow.
WILLARD THE WILLING CADRE
Who will they turn to? Willard Katsande is a willing and able cadre prepared to break an arm and a leg for the Naturena badge.
But the Zimbabwean strongman is no longer the force of old. The man Solinas has tended to twin with Katsande is George Maluleka. By Solinas's own admission, the midfielder lacks match fitness.
Those who witnessed the quarterfinal against SuperSport saw a man who appeared not only allergic to playing a pin-point pass, but also a chief volunteer for cheaply giving away possession.
Strangely, the coach sang his praises.
"George, he is a very good player. Unfortunately, he started the season injured, not playing for two months. The body, physically, the structure, George is strong. He needs time for top fitness. He's a very important player for us.
"Today George performed very well because he is our midfielder who plays box to box. He is useful in defence and also in attack. Today I am happy with everybody, every player today gave an outstanding performance," said Solinas after the SuperSport victory.
Bossman Khama Billiat remains a weapon of destruction who poses a great threat on any given Saturday.
Dumisani Zuma remains an exciting prospect who must be unleashed without restriction. Solinas must understand that Siphelele Ntshangase is not an ornament to be displayed on the bench.
Three games at Mabhida yielded a return of one goal in the quarterfinal victory over SuperSport United a fortnight ago.
It was sandwiched by the 1-0 defeat to Polokwane City and the goalless draw with Chippa United.
BOBBY BACKS SOLINAS
Motaung laughed off a suggestion in reports that former Manchester United striker and current SuperSport TV analyst Dwight Yorke has been linked to the Chiefs job.
"Dwight Yorke is on SuperSport - why don't they leave him there," Motaung said.
"But there's nothing of that nature. We don't have any issues. We've not even raised issues such as coaching. So I don't know where these rumours come from."
I DON'T FEAR ANY TEAM
Coming up against table toppers who look lean and mean and have not tasted defeat in nine league matches and two Telkom Knockout games could spark a fear factor. Not so, says bullish Solinas.
"Me, I fear no team. It is a clear message, yes," Solinas declared with a straight face when Chiefs drew Pirates for the last four a fortnight ago.
"You can't predict the derby. The derby is open to every result. But now in this derby we are more confident, more confident because now the key players are improving their fitness ... Pirates is a strong team, but if my team perform like today, I don't fear anything," said Solinas in the bowels of the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium.
MICHO'S MANTRA
In his second coming at Pirates, Micho has been muttering a different mantra.
Last season he focused on healing the souls of The Ghost as he settled for second spot behind Sundowns, securing a Champions League spot in the process.
This current campaign, he is preaching about feeding the souls.
While the slogans are nice-sounding, it is the trophies that would be taste-pleasing and soul-feeding.
The only food the Bucs faithful will find palatable is trophies.
Silverware is the staple diet that will heal the humiliation they endured with those infamous 6-1 and 6-0 tennis scores at the hands of their Tshwane cross-town neighbours.
Anything less will resemble that Pirates side that ran on the steam of four tokoloshes - Joseph "Dukuduku" Makhanya, Benedict "Tso" Vilakazi, Lebogang "Cheeseboy" Mokoena and the late Gift "Voom-Voom" Leremi.
It was fluid, chest-swelling football that was pleasing to the eye. So bedazzled were the supporters, they adopted R Kelly's song Happy People as their monicker.
It was a hollow happiness because if all that glitters is gold, all that separates men from boys, in the great scheme of things, is a bursting of the seams of a trophy cabinet.
Chiefs and Pirates need that final push to end operation malnutrition. They need to end the starvation they have subjected their fans to for a collective seven years.
When the season ends, the only thing that would matter would be silverware.
If the barometer of success is silverware, the only team that's been successful thus far this season is Cape Town City, holders of the MTN8 crown.
Chiefs and Pirates stand two steps away from quenching the thirst of their long- suffering supporters. Roll on Saturday...