Shabba excited for his 26th Soweto derby

Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs captain Siphiwe Tshabalala admits that each time he participates in a Soweto derby he feels blessed.

The midfielder, of course, knows a bit about the derby, having played in 25 so far. The last of which was the Telkom Knockout semi-final win on 7 November 2015.

“Since joining Kaizer Chiefs in 2007, it has always been a blessing to play a derby,” said Shabba on the club's website.

The 31-year-old also stressed that coach Steve Komphela has “a positive headache, as he has a lot of players to choose from” for Saturday’s fixture, which will be played at the FNB Stadium.

Tshabalala has been in fine form in recent matches, which was acknowledged by Buccaneers coach Eric Tinkler at the Soweto derby press conference at Midrand’s Vodacom World.

The midfielder has participated in 21 matches (league and cup) so far, scoring twice and providing ten assists for others to score.

Amakhosi are at present in fourth position on the Absa Premiership log, having collected 25 points from 15 matches.

Tshabalala is not too worried about Chiefs’ present form, stressing that “the situation we are in is temporary”.

He refers with these words to the saying in sports that “form is temporary, class is permanent”.

“We have been in this situation before,” Tshabalala adds.

“This is our journey. I am confident that we can get past any obstacle to still retain the league title.

“A Derby has its own challenges. We always learn from every challenge as we want to grow as a player. It will be a great game of football on Saturday.”

Kick-off is at 15:30.