Hunt: Chiefs and Bucs stars also won't have preparation time

Cape Town - Wits coach Gavin Hunt says the international break could affect his players as well as those of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates ahead of the Telkom Knockout semi-finals.

Wits are set to giant-killers Baroka, who defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 2-0 in the quarter-final earlier this month, on Suday at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Pietersburg.

Meanwhile, Chiefs take on Pirates on Saturday at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban with both matches starting from 15:00.

All three sides had key players involved in Bafana Bafana's two most recent matches against Nigeria and Paraguay respectively, with the majority of South Africa's defence coming from the Clever Boys squad.

Hunt said: "It's our third away game in the cup [this year]. Last year we had three home games to get to the final, so it's like that.

"We look a better away side this year, we play...I don't know, there's a few things we do differently, but we look better than at home.

"I think at home we get a little bit anxious and we try and go for it a little bit more, and then we get caught like we did last week [against Celtic].

"Ja, right now, our form at home hasn't been good, so maybe the away game is better. It's a nice, big, open pitch but it is a day game, which is not easy.

"If we get the heat like we've had recently, it's going to be a bit of a problem, it'll be a bit of a walking-pace game.

"Obviously, we've had players away and that's always a problem [because] you don't know what you're going to get back.

"Thursday they'll have down time, so they'll pretty much have only one training session for preparation.

"Chiefs and Pirates' [international] players won't have any preparation to play on Saturday, will they? But it is what it is, the players coming back should know what's required and what we're looking for."

Kick-off is on Sunday at 15:00.