Coach Eric: We need a cushion
CLUB AFRICAIN ARE NOT HAPPY TRAVELLERS Thanks to Caf’s postponement, the team is well rested.
SuperSport United coach Eric Tinkler has stressed the importance of making the most of home comforts at the Lucas Moripe Stadium tomorrow afternoon, as Matsatsantsa face Tunisia’s Club Africain in the first leg of their Caf Confederation Cup semifinal.
“We need to win this home game. We would like to get two goals, but three goals would be even better so that we can have something to take there,” Tinkler said yesterday.
The Tunisians have not been the best travellers in this competition, winning just one and losing three of their away games in the group stages, while they also lost the first leg of their quarterfinal at Algeria’s MC Alger. At home, on the other hand, Club Africain have won every single game in this year’s competition.
“We need to get a result at home, we know they are bad travellers and we need to take advantage of that fact. Watching them at home, they play very differently to what they do away, they get the motivation from their fan base. So it is key for us to get a positive result,” added Tinkler, whose side have not lost a home game since the start of the group stages.
“It is a massive game for us and an extremely difficult game, we know how difficult the opposition can be because they are a big team in Tunisia.
SuperSport captain Dean Furman, meanwhile, is delighted that Caf decided to postpone the game from today to tomorrow, which gave Matsatsantsa more time to sharpen their swords.
“We went through dramatic scenes last week (SuperSport scored a stoppage-time equaliser at Zesco United in Zambia to reach the semifinals) and it was a great feeling and a great moment for us to continue our journey in this competition. To have a week with no midweek game has allowed us to recover from what has been a pretty hectic schedule of late and it (the match with Club Africain) being delayed by another day has given us more time with the coach,” said Furman.
“This is a competition that is very important to the players, it is not a competition that took one month or two like the domestic cups that are quite quick, it’s been about 10 months in the making. It is not like we just got into the semis in a short space of time, we worked very hard.”