Komphela never played in a Soweto Derby against Orlando Pirates during his brief career as a Chiefs player in 1993 before moving to Turkey. But the former Bafana Bafana skipper is aware of what Saturday afternoon will be all about.
“The intensity of the occasion leading up to the match, and all the comments and remarks made after and the pride that goes along with this fixture … all that,” Komphela says, admitting to Derby Day nerves.
“People want to see goals and we would love to do that which is what we are going for on Saturday. This team is too big to be defence-minded.
“This team is just too big to have a mentality that is modest. Attacking should be part of it, winning should be part of it, excitement should be part of it and those are values and characteristics that we embrace so it has to be the same on Saturday.
But for all this fighting talk, Komphela admits he still feels anxious before matches, still gets butterflies.
“Small matches … I want to have that anxiety … I want to have those butterflies so I generate them. With big matches the butterflies will be there anyway, so you try and calm them,” he says.
“If you are a human being without any feelings of anxiety then you are doomed for failure.
“So what I try do is that I don’t want to be too relaxed. When there is a match where I feel there is not too much pressure and I feel I am too relaxed, then I generate anxiety so that I am forever alert,” Komphela explains.
“But if the feeling of anxiety is getting too high then you have to bring it down to the right levels. So anxiety must there be, first derby, first match, I want to have those butterflies because they are the ones that propel us.”