Ramovic expects Chippa match to be tough
TS Galaxy head coach Sead Ramovic anticipates a tough encounter against Chippa United in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday (3pm).
Galaxy have had smooth sailing so far in the Nedbank Cup. They started their campaign with a 2-1 win against Golden Arrows in the last 32.
They went on to beat ABC Motsepe League side D’General 3-0 in the last 16 to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
Galaxy are itching to repeat history after they lifted the Nedbank Cup in 2019, beating Kaizer Chiefs in the final.
However, they need to get past the Chilli Boys to be one step closer to achieving that dream.
“We play against Chippa, when we look at the last nine games they have played, they have won five, drawn two, and lost two,” Ramovic said.
“They have scored 13 goals and their goal possession on average in every game is about 46%. It means this is a wellcoached team and it will be a very tough opponent.
“Yes, we are playing at home; we know our strengths and we also know we need to be at our best to increase our chances to win the game.
“It will be a tough one, but hopefully we can be the team that gets to the next round.
“If you defend well, you of course increase our chances of winning the game and our first defender is the striker, and in the opponent side, it’s the defender.
“Which means we have to stay compact in every stage so that we don’t have three or four blocks, we have one block.
“So it means if we attack, we attack together, and if we are in the middle block we hold and it’s not like we let four players in one block and six players in the other block.
“Like many teams are playing because they want to win the second balls, especially teams when they play with long balls.
“But we try to be in one block, to defend and to help each other.”
The Rockets have had a good run in the DStv Premiership, having won their three previous matches, the most recent being a 3-0 win against Royal AM.
They are fifth on the log with 34 points from 21 matches.