It's the Telkom Cup time and Pirates, Chiefs expected to have easy wins.

MTN-8 Champions, Orlando Pirates, are to meet a very ordinary Supersport United that is struggling to cope the loss of their key players in the Telkom Knockout Cup this weekend at Loftus Versveld. United lost live wire Daine Klate to the Sea Robbers as well as Bafana defender, Bongani Khumalo, who is bound for White Hart Lane. While Klate will be facing his former paymasters, Supersport will be trying to make up for lost ground as they have been struggling to get their identity and that is a worry for Pirates.

Pirates have the fire power that has not really blossomed to the full. With the quality of Tlou Segogela, Katlego Mashego, Thulasizwe Mbuyane, Dikgang Mabalane, Klate and Moeneeb Josephs, they should be comfortable winners against anybody. United's Anthony Lafour and Fikru are struggling for form and coach Gavin Hunt is struggling for football survival. Victory over the Ghosts will be a big relief for him but it is hard to see how they can squeeze a result from former African champions. Pirates will humble United, but just.

Kaizer Chiefs will host Free State Stars at the Rand Stadium in another quarter-final clash. Without the red-carded Kaizer Motaung Jnr, Amakhosi still have the pedigree to come out unscathed by the Steve Khompela's side. Abia Nale is playing a game of his live as is the ever green Knowledge Musona. Amakhosi have proved they can play without Siphiwe Tshabalala. Yende and Mandla Masango will also be there to support the Glamour Boys attack, though they have been a little quiet by their high standards. Chiefs will no doubt beat Stars without much fuss.

Santos of Cape Town will most likely make light work of Mpumalanga Black Aces. Aces have been blowing hot and cold since the take over of Neil Tovey last month. They scrapped a narrow 1-0 victory over Pirates and a 2-1 win over Moroka Swallows. The match to take place at the Athlone Stadium, will be Tovey's true litmus test in Cup matches and hopefully the form will be translated to the league as they are in the relegation zone and Marawan Bantam will be key for the visitors. Amazayoni are my pick to pull out an unlikely win.

A juicier affair at Harry Gwala Stadium in KZN will pit giants and league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns and Maritzburg United. Nyasha Mushekwi will be the main man as he has been scoring freely. Katlego Mphela and Mabhuti Khenyeza can be hard to play against on a good day. It will boil down to which Sundowns turns up on the day and the prolific one may be too hot to handle for United. I would fancy the home side to spring a surprise and win this one.