Football: Confederations Cup – second round, first leg-SuperSport United FC play cautious |04 March 2005

SuperSport United FC coach Pitso Mosimane told Sports Nation  that they won’t take Red Star lightly even though they know nothing about the local side.

Coach Mosimane was speaking minutes after the South African outfit arrived here early Thursday morning (March 3) onboard the Air Seychelles HM060 flight.

“We know nothing about Red Star, only that they scored a lot of goals in their last match. 4-0 and that’s interesting. Obviously, you cannot come and play a team who scored four goals and expect to win easily against them. For a team to score four goals in an African club competition it means something, that they must be very good. I’ve told my players that they must respect the team (Red Star) and not think that we can come to Seychelles and win. We are here to play football and we have to respect the opponents. If you don’t respect people, you can get a shock of your life. It is better that you prepare yourself very hard and then realise that it wasn’t that hard than to prepare less and then you get a fright,” cautioned coach Mosimane.

International central defender and captain Ricardo Katza’s speech was different from that of his coach. Confident in his teammates’ ability and true to the team’s aim of reaching the final of the Confederations Cup, Katza said that they gathered valuable experience by reaching the group stage of the African Champions League last year and that they want to translate this experience into the Confederations Cup.

“We are experienced and we know what to expect and what to do this time around. We need to score goals to make life easier for us in the return leg match. We learned a lot from competing in the Champions League, our main objective is to feature in the final of the Confederation Cup and win it," he said.

Other than central defender Katsa, goalkeeper Calvin Marlin and right back Phil Evans have represented the Bafana Bafana.

Coach Mosimane, who said that he did not bring all his top players because some are injured while others are suffering from a loss of form, can count on Zimbabwean defender Kaitano Thembo, Mozambican striker Emmanuel Bucuane and Swazi left winger Tony Tshabedze in Saturday’s (March 5) match.

It is to note that Pretoria-based SuperSport United FC, who got a bye during the preliminary round of this year’s Confederations Cup, were the only South African side who reached the group stage of the prestigious Champions League in 2004.

Fifth behind leaders Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows in the 16-team Castle Premiership Soccer League, SuperSport United FC, nicknamed Matsatsantsa, won their last two matches against Ajax Cape Town (3-1) in the league and against Hellenic (4-3) in the Absa Cup, the South African version of the local Land Marine Cup.

During the 2003-2004 season, coach Mosimane’s team won the SAA Supa 8 Cup and finished third in the Castle Premiership Soccer League to qualify for the Confederations Cup.

They were twice Castle Premiership Soccer League runners-up in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.

Members of the SuperSport United FC will be at the Pirates today between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to sign autographs and give away T-Shirts and other souvenirs. Members of the public are being urged to come in numbers to chat with the players.

Meanwhile, the game’s officials also arrived Thursday. The game’s commisssaire is Malagasy Ahmad. Referee Moeli Mpopo Benedict and his two assistants – Fusil Shale and Mohlakala Ts’eliso – are from Lesotho. 

G. G.