Nedbank Cup: Close Quarters Combat
Sundowns get a chance to bounce back in the Nedbank Cup, while in-form Pirates focused on making semis.
|||It’s going to be a stern test for the Brazilians, especially that they meet Pirates at the time when Eric Tinkler and his men seem to have found their groove. Hosea Ramphekwa and Njabulo Ngidi take a closer look.
Orlando Pirates
Such is the good mood of Eric Tinkler recently, he could have talked about anything under the sun on Thursday at Orlando Stadium – entertaining questions that ranged from the coaches side-line scuffle in the KwaZulu-Natal derby to South African teams’ attitude in continental competitions.
The rich vein of form that Orlando Pirates is in has brought out the best of Tinkler who has had a turbulent first season in his first head coach position.
He started by reaching dizzying heights when he took the Buccaneers to the final of the CAF Confederation Cup.
But they crashed, badly, when they lost to Etoile du Sahel – leading to a spiral of bad results that affected their league form and confidence. The club had a heart-to-heart meeting in December to talk about the bad situation they were in and how to get themselves out of it. The response was firstly timid, but started to pick up after they demolished then-title challengers Mpumalanga Black Aces in Mbombela in February.
Pirates are targeting capping that turn around by finishing the year with the Nedbank Cup. “I would like to finish my first season as a head coach having won a trophy,” Tinkler said. “That’s important, also for the team and the players after the disappointing season that we have had. The highs and lows, we would like to finish it off with a trophy.
The added benefit is that if we win it, we get to back to the continent to play in the Confederation Cup, which is where we all want to be. We would like to get back there, try and go all the way to win that competition.
”Standing in the way of that are the defending Nedbank Cup champions and league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who host the Buccaneers tomorrow night at Lucas Moripe Stadium in the quarter-finals. The sight of Sundowns hasn’t been a pleasant one for Pirates this season having been beaten by them twice.
But that was before Pirates found their form and Sundowns were thrown into a situation of playing four games in 11 days, including a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Buccaneers were in a similar situation in the first half of this season, juggling domestic and continental commitments. The difference between these two teams has been mental.
Sundowns have never uttered the F-word, fatigue. Tinkler struggled in his mental battle with his players, something that he seems to have finally managed as they cruised past Kaizer Chiefs and Jomo Cosmos to reach the last eight.“When there was a lot of comments from the press that the form is poor, players started believing what they were reading,” Tinkler said.
“I said it right in the beginning, in June, people were asking me about fatigue. How much is fatigue going to play a part? More and more players hear the fatigue story and believe that, yes ‘I am fatigued.’ What’s been key was me telling them that they can’t use that as an excuse. If you look in Europe, they play 60-65 games a season."
Mamelodi Sundowns
If anything Mamelodi Sundowns crashing out of the CAF Champions League has taught them a valuable lesson.
It’s a lesson Downs coach Pitso Mosimane hopes his men will implement when they host Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday evening.
Of course the lesson is ‘have no mercy and be ruthless’. Mosimane feels his men were not lethal enough when they got kicked out of the Champions League by Democratic Republic of Congo’s AS Vita.
In the aftermath of such a defeat Mosimane is cursing the fact that Sundowns did not take their chances when Vita were at their mercy both away and at home.
It’s going to be a stern test for the Brazilians, especially that they meet Pirates at the time when Eric Tinkler and his men seem to have found their groove.
Pirates' defence is decent, the midfield is mild and their striker force is hot with striker Tendai Ndoro excelling. Mosimane is aware of what awaits them on Saturday night.
“We are playing a very good team. They are on form. They are scoring goals. Ndoro is the flavour of the moment. It’s a team that doesn’t struggle to get the goals. We don’t struggle to get the goals. That’s the exciting part. Eric Tinkler has done a good job. He has got the balance right. The wins are there. Their tails are up,” said Mosimane.
“We come from a little bit down emotionally. We just lost a prestigious game that is important to us and South Africa. Emotionally they are in the right place and physically they are well rested.”
Mosimane will be looking to his soldiers to come to the party. The evergreen midfield maestro Hlompho Kekana and redhot speedster Khama Billiat will be expected to instigate explosive moves for the Absa Premiership log leaders. But both have warned that beating Pirates twice (in the league) doesn’t mean they are going to have a free pass to the semi-finals.
“Cup matches are different. It’s not going to be the same as a league match. It’s going to be a different ball game. It’s going to be a game of tactics. We can’t afford to concede early or concede late.
“We have to go there with cautious mind because it can go to extra-time. It’s going to take a lot of thinking and a lot of energy. We are professionals. We need to apply ourselves like we have to. We are not under pressure. We have set goals for ourselves. We know what is at stake. We really want to win matches. That’s what we are looking forward to winning matches and silverware,” said Kekana, whose sentiments were echoed by Billiat.
“Because we beat them it doesn’t give us an advantage. We are focusing on the game that we are playing now. For us at the moment every game is important.
"There’s no big team or small team. Any team can surprise you on any day. We are just preparing like we always do. Pirates know we are playing better so we are just going to focus on ourselves and not too much on them.”
The Star