SABC Digital News

Middendorp is no stranger to derbies, he’s under no illusions that the form book goes out of the window when it comes to this game as they approach a Pirates team that has been struggling in the past few months.

In the Absa Premiership, Chiefs are five points clear at the top and are the inform team in the PSL currently but there have also been questions about their football with some alleging that it’s not good to the eye.

Amakhosi are coming to this game as overwhelming favourites, having won all their last five matches in all competitions and conceding only one goal in the process and scoring eight.

There’s some good and bad news for Kaizer Chiefs ahead of their crucial Telkom Knockout Soweto Derby against arch-rivals Orlando Pirates at the sold out Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, with match officiating a huge talking point in the PSL these days, especially after this past weekend’s decision to allow Chiefs first goal against Sundowns.

As things stand, Notoane only has about 14 players but that includes two goalkeepers and he could be heading to the first game against Zambia with a starting line-up with no substitutes.

SAFA knew as early as June about the programme of the U23 and the possibility of the clash with PSL fixtures if the team manages to qualify for the tournament.

The club versus country is problem is back to haunt South African football again. With only a week before the U23 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament kicks-off in Egypt, SA coach David Notoane is struggling to put out a decent team together.

The former Executive of Corporate Affairs at Eskom, Choeu says the relationship between Eskom and the Gupta owned New Age TNA breakfast events began to seem more like a commercial relationship in which TNA was benefitting, but with no real value for Eskom.

Eskom's former Divisional Executive for Corporate Affairs, Chose Choeu has taken the stand at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture as it continues to hear evidence about the power utility's relationship with the Guptas' media company, The New Age. On Tuesday, Eskom's Acting General Manager of Strategic Marketing, Pieter Pretorius, described his version of events to the Commission.

Bloemfontein Celtic Malawian coach John Maduka has taken a look at the Springboks playing in the 2019 World Cup Rugby finals this weekend as a continental honour for Africa and not just for South Africa.

The Mzansi Super League 2.0 is set to get underway in less than two weeks’ time and former Proteas star JP Duminy is excited to be part of the Paarl Rocks franchise this season.

Acting Premier Soccer League CEO, Mato Madlala, has defended referee Victor Hlungwani for the criticism levelled against him and his officials during the weekend’s high-profile Absa Premiership encounter between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs in Tshwane.

Orlando Pirates returned to winning ways in the Absa Premiership, securing a 1-0 victory over Highlands Park at Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa last night.

These two sides have met on 42 previous occasions at Test level, with South Africa boasting 25 wins to England's 15 and two draws in between.

With a rich amount of support behind the team already, “Die bokke” fans have continued to flood into Yokohama and one special fan who will make his first overseas trip is Siya Kolisi’s father who stands on the brink of potentially witnessing his son become the first black captain to lift the Webb Ellis trophy.

When the Springboks won its first World Cup in its own backyard 24 years ago, most of the current crop were mere toddlers who probably harboured little dreams of one day winning the global spectacle.

The curtain closes on the 2019 Rugby World Cup this Saturday with South Africa locking horns with England in a blockbuster final set for the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan.

A group of researchers are adamant they are too close to coming up with a new vaccine to prevent tuberculosis.

Meanwhile, the SABC announced yesterday that the Rugby World Cup final between the Springboks and England will be broadcast live on SABC 2 from Yokohama, Japan following an agreement that was reached with Supersport.

SABC’s net losses in the past financial year amounted to R482million and R410million of it was the cost of sports rights, Mxakwe says they had to find a way to address this.

During this period, the SABC also had serious financial challenges which saw it also struggling to acquire new and fresh content.

Negotiations between SABC and SAFA took over a year to conclude and in that period Bafana matches were not shown on SABC channels with only away matches where the broadcaster had a deal with CAF managing to be broadcast.

SABC and SAFA decided to put side all the other issues and put the interests of the nation first to pave the way for the new broadcast deal to be concluded.

Defender Rushine de Reuck says he has fond memories of Maritzburg United’s famous Nedbank Cup run two seasons back, adding that he wanted another taste of those good feelings when they shift focus to the Telkom Knockout this weekend.