OPFC.com caught up with Thandani Ntshumayelo to hear his thoughts on the upcoming match.
Yet another African campaign for you?
“Yes we are now playing in the Confederations Cup and to be honest we don’t know much about the team we are playing against other than that they are from Uganda. Having said that, we respect them as colleagues and opponents.”
Is it more difficult playing against a Team you know nothing about?
“Look we experienced that before in the Champions League where we had to play against teams we knew nothing about and somehow managed to pull through. So I think the trick is to focus on ourselves and work on what we need to do to win the match. We are playing at home and are Champions’ League finalists so they will have something to think about as well. We have to make it difficult for them, both on the pitch and in the stands.”
Does playing at home first make it easier to wrap up the tie early?
“I think it works in our favour now that we are playing at home first because we will get a chance to study them and see what they are about. We will have a better idea of what to expect from their individual players, and the only thing we need to factor in is the trip to Uganda. Having travelled through the continent the last time (in the Champions’ League) we have learnt enough to know that it won’t be rosy.”
What is the strategy do you normally employ when playing an unknown Team?
“I think luckily enough during the Champions League we played a lot of games with Teams we knew nothing about and the focus, as I said before, was on ourselves and how we want to play and score goals. Thereafter we can expand our preparations by focusing on the other team, because we would have had a chance to see them in the first leg.”
Your opening match is at home, does that put any pressure on the Team?
“Not really, the objective for us is to create goal scoring opportunities and obviously make them count and make sure that we don’t concede. I think that will put more pressure on them. We are playing at home in front of our supporters, our biggest motivation, and that spurs us on to do better. It’s not just about the players, or the supporters, it’s about a much bigger cause; it’s about doing duty for your country, and nothing can be more motivating than that.”
The first time in the history of the Club that we play in the CAF Competition, what does that mean for you?
“The Chairman always emphasises that Pirates is the Club that makes history in South Africa and Pirates has won the Super Cup and the Champions League before, so yes it would be nice to win this one especially because we haven’t won anything this season yet. We would love to go all the way with this Cup. We are well aware it won’t be easy, it’s going to be a long hard battle against formidable competition but we are up to the challenge.”
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