Van Heerden thrives in PE
IT HASN’T taken Marc van Heerden long to settle in at Chippa United and adopt the winning culture coach Dan Malesela has established.
Malesela is making his players believe they can win anything and if they play the way they did in their 2-0 victory over Platinum Stars in the MTN8 quarterfinal a couple of weeks ago, then Chippa certainly have what it takes to challenge for silverware this season.
Van Heerden believes they could send out an even stronger message if they were to beat Mamelodi Sundowns in the two-legged semifinal that starts at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday (3pm).
“If you believe in it, then why not? I can’t see why we cannot win the competition. We can make a statement by getting a win [against Sundowns] in the first leg,” said Van Heerden, who is enjoying himself at Chippa after joining from AmaZulu. “If we can win this competition, then there’s an opportunity to grow the belief within the team. “This is a platform to show what we are capable of doing and this will help with confidence going forward.” Chippa players are playing with confidence because their coach has given them freedom to express themselves. They are likely to dominate possession but it will mean nothing if they are unable to find a chink in the Sundowns armour. What’s also important for Chippa is to keep a clean sheet at home. However, it will take some serious concentration throughout the 90 minutes to stop the threat posed by the likes of Sibusiso Vilakazi, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly.