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TINKLER: COACH HOPES HIS MEN RETURN WITH A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH
He will have only three days with his men before the final.
Eric Tinkler has admitted he would prefer to already have a full complement of players to prepare for SuperSport United’s Caf Confederation Cup final first-leg clash away to TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday.
Matsatsantsa have five players on national duty with Bafana Bafana, who play Senegal in a dead-rubber World Cup qualifier tonight in Dakar.
Bafana are likely to only return to the country tomorrow, meaning Tinkler will have more or less three days to put the final touches to his preparations.
“We would have ideally preferred better preparations going into this game but with the World Cup qualifiers that was not possible,” Tinkler told Phakaaathi.
Morgan Gould and Reneilwe Letsholonyane will miss the first leg as they will both be serving one-match suspensions. While there is relatively sufficient cover in midfield, SuperSport are thin at the back, and Tefu Mashamaite looks the man Tinkler is most likely to call upon.
“Tefu is likely to be the obvious choice because it is not like we have a lot of options at the back. Quite a few (players) moved on from last season so we have a very small group of players to select from.
“One hopes Dean Furman, Bradley Grobler, Ronwen Williams and Clayton Daniels all come back from the national team with no injuries, Jeremy Brockie from New Zealand as well. It is not like we are blessed with a lot of registered players,” he said.
The sides are familiar with each other as they met twice in the group stages, with SuperSport managing a 2-2 draw in Lubumbashi. while the teams played to a goalless draw in Atteridgeville.
“They obviously have a lot of experience but I think we have showed them before that we are more than capable of winning against them. We have reached this stage not by fluke and we are at the final end of business so we will give it our utmost to win this competition.
“They can’t underestimate us and we can’t underestimate them either because both teams know each other well now.”