Cup king Tinkler is still not satisfied
COACH: NOW I WANT THE CONFED CUP
SuperSport have a tricky assignment in Tunisia on Saturday.
Eric Tinkler says his appetite for silverware has by no means been satisfied, after the SuperSport United coach led his side to MTN8 glory on Saturday night.
The trophy was the second Tinkler has won in under a year, after also guiding Cape Town City to the Telkom Knockout title in 2016. Ironically, Saturday’s win with SuperSport came by beating City at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Tinkler is now proving to be a cup king from the title of nearly-man at Orlando Pirates, where he lost both the 2015 Caf Confederation Cup final and the 2016 Nedbank Cup final.
On Saturday, Tinkler’s Matsatsantsa had to fight to the death as they trailed City for much of the game, and then had to play the last few minutes of normal time and extra time with 10 men after Thabo Mnyamane, who scored SuperSport’s equaliser, limped from the field. In the end, SuperSport held their nerve to win 4-2 on penalties.
“When you reach a final somebody has to be a loser, but you don’t want to be that loser. I hold a lot of pride from my time at Pirates and that obviously motivated me to continue doing what I am doing,” said Tinkler.
“For me to start at SuperSport with an MTN8 win is a fantastic start. But, the type of person I am, I want more.”
Tinkler has a chance to add more silverware to the Pretoria team’s trophy cabinet, should they reach the final of the Caf Confederation Cup. United travel to Tunisia for a second-leg meeting with Club Africain this weekend, following a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
“We have another massive game coming up at the weekend and we want to get to the final. I explained to the players that winning trophies needs to be an addiction, it must be a drug you should want all the time,” he continued.
“So hopefully we can go there and get the result. That is also a trophy I would like to win.”