Tinkler must put Caf loss aside as he prepares for Ajax assault
JOHANNESBURG: SuperSport United coach, Eric Tinkler, expects a positive response from his players in their catch-up programme in the Absa Premiership after they lost the Caf Confederation Cup final to TP Mazembe.
United lost 2-1 on aggregate to the Mazembe after playing to a goalless draw at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday to end a gruelling 10-month, 18-match campaign in disappointment. SuperSport don’t have much time to wallow in their failure, as they host Ajax Cape Town at Mbombela Stadium on Wednesday, in only their sixth match of the domestic season, whereas most clubs are already in double figures.
Tinkler has been in this situation before. He was Orlando Pirates’ assistant coach when they lost the 2013 Caf Champions League final and head coach in their unsuccessful 2015 Confederation Cup campaign. The Buccaneers’ mental strength was tested after they came close to conquering the continent. Getting over that disappointment is tough on its own but having to play catch-up on top of that compounds matters.
“I am looking for a positive response,” Tinkler said. “We’ll see if we can get that in the next couple of days when we play against Ajax.
“Obviously we plan to make quite a few changes for that game because we have brought quite a number of new faces into the squad. Now we can really start focusing on our league campaign. That becomes the main objective right now.”
SuperSport have themselves to blame for failing to become continental champions. Mazembe were there for the taking but United squandered a number of opportunities in the first leg and they didn’t create enough chances in the home leg.
Ivoirian goalkeeper Sylvian Gbohouo was hardly tested in the second leg even though SuperSport needed a goal to win.
“Obviously there’s disappointment from everybody,” Tinkler said.
“The players understand the hard work that it has taken to get to this stage. There’s massive disappointment from them and me because when we set out on this journey we wanted to win it and having to finish as runners up is a bad feeling.
“I don’t think that it has anything to do with our lack of experience. I think that it has a lot to do with their experience because we are talking about a team that has won many, many competitions be it the Champions League or the Confederation Cup.
“You could see that to a degree, in terms of the way they played. You also have to give credit to them. There has to be a winner and a loser. Sadly we were on the losing side. But does that make us a bad team or does that make me a bad coach? I don’t think so. Now we have to put it behind us and move on to focus on our next objective which is the league.”