Goals will spice up the Chilli Boys
STRIKER Andile Mbenyane says Chippa United will be chasing early goals when they meet Highlands Park in the Telkom Knockout Last 16 on Friday night.
Mbenyane said an early goal will ease any pressure the players may be feeling which will in turn allow them to play their entertaining brand of soccer.
“Our approach in this game against Highlands Park is to be more in their half, so that we can get early goals as soon as possible” he said.
“We’d rather be under pressure while we are leading than when we are behind.
“We have been struggling to come from behind. Most teams know that we are going to keep the ball so they just go and sit at the back.
“They have many numbers in their half which means they are waiting for us to come to them and then counter us.
“It is so difficult to get through these teams sometimes because they just park the bus.
“It’s better to get early goals first and then counter-attack them because they will want to come at us.”
Chippa had a good run in the MTN8 until they lost 1-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns in the second leg of the semifinal.
Mbenyane said the players would be disappointed if they were to lose out on two cups in a row.
“The Telkom Cup is very important to us because we are looking to get a trophy this season,” he said.
“We are positive that we are going to win this game against Highlands Park and progress to the next stage of the competition.”
The Chilli Boys will be making their third appearance in the TKO. In previous attempts Chippa have never passed beyond the first stage of the competition.
Last year
Mbenyane is confident that things will be different this time around saying: “The team is mature now and everyone knows what we want because we always talk as players.
“Our approach in both league and cup games is the same because we are also fighting to get something in the league as well.
“We made our debut in the MTN8 and we did very well. What will stop us from doing the same in this competition?
“We have been playing impressive football and everyone expect Chippa to win all the time.”
Mbenyana acknowledges the team needs to score goals and that had been their focus in training this week. — they lost 2-0 to Sundowns.