Posted in News on Oct 20, 2006.
There is always an air of excitement ahead of a Cup Final and this one is no different, we are as confident of winning the game as we were when we won the ABSA Cup Final in May. Our preparations might have been slightly hampered by an injury to Siyabonga Nkosi, as well as Derrick Spencer who has still not recovered from an injury he picked up almost two weeks ago.
We will be able to deal with these set backs as we did a week ago when we drew with Sundowns, I thought that Jimmy Tau played really well last week in a midfield role and I spoke to him after wards and he has said that he has no problem with playing in the same position again.
Even though we have had a number of setbacks through injuries, Tinashe Nengomasha has sufficiently recovered from an ankle injury he suffered while playing with Zimbabwe national team. To be able to duty for us on Saturday, so to can we welcome back David Mathebula who had been sitting on the sidelines recently after injuring himself in training.
On to the game itself there has been a lot of talk from Pitso Mosimane concerning the Supa8 Final, he has said many things about the game and he has really down played his team’s chances of winning and their ability to play good football.
One does not need to be a genius to see that he is trying to play tricks with us, his constant badgering about not being interested in winning the Cup Final. Because of the fact that it is his team’s sixth appearance in a Cup Final in three years is no boring, I know that he is a highly competitive coach and he is not the kind of person who will give up easily.
Taking into account the Pitso I know I am expecting a real fight from SuperSport in the SAA Supa8 Cup Final, Pitso has said that he has stuck to the same team all season which we all know is not the truth. He has used two goalkeepers this term already and the man who has given Andre Arendse a run for his money, is 21 year old Ugandan born Denis Onyango who has shown no signs that he is a rookie at all. Onyango has really impressed me recently and has played some big matches for SuperSport, for him to be able to keep out Andre Arendse from the team shows that he is a quality player.
The key to victory on Saturday I do feel will be the ability to open up and win the battle for supremacy in the midfield, there can be no denying the talent that lie with both teams in this department. SuperSport can in call upon the services of Daine Klate to make things happen in the middle of the park, the twenty one year old Klate can be a handful, and together with Klate in the SuperSport midfield there is Maimane Phiri, Teko Modise and Katlego Mashego. All of whom are dangerous players and can give you the run around should you give them the chance to.
From our side when it comes to the midfield should we keep the same kind of shape we did when we defeated Moroka Swallows in the Semi Final, then we should have no problem in returning triumphant from the ABSA Stadium on Saturday evening.
Scara Ngobese had two excellent games against Swallows and Golden Arrows and we will be hoping that plays the same way he did in those games, as we do not want a repeat of his performance from last Saturday’s game against Mamelodi Sundowns. I felt that against Sundowns he was not as focused as he was in the previous two games and was not carrying out instructions and being the destroyer in Chief like he was in the Swallows and Arrows games.
For now though that is it I would like to end off by saying to all the supporters that let us prove Pitso Mosimane right and paint the stadium in Durban yellow on Saturday evening, as he said it will be in a press conference earlier in the week. We are feeling good and are confident of another cup final success, please be at the Stadium on Saturday as it will be a really wonderful spectacle.
Up for the Cup
Yours in victory
Ernst Middendorp
