A classic David v Goliath game

Steve Barker – Stellenbosch FC coach

“Our ambition as a club has always been to break into the Top Eight and compete in a competition like the MTN8 and here we are. Obviously finishing fourth last season, the bonus of it is that it afforded us an opportunity of a home game and having Chiefs come down here is always fantastic for the Stellenbosch community and the club as a whole. A formidable opponent, still the most decorated football club in terms of trophies in South Africa and they are obviously desperate to get back to winning some silverware again. We, on the other side, are a young and ambitious side that wants to win trophies, so I see it as a classic David v Goliath cup game. We’ve had tight matches against them over the past few seasons and even though we managed to beat them twice last season, they are a different side now. They have, intentionally so, a very youthful team with lots of running and energy… but so do we. We too want to compete in finals and win them, that’s why we are part of this game. I mean, in a short space of time, our DStv Diski Challenge team won the league and have done exceptionally well. It’s now up to the first team to get on the scoreboard

and get a trophy as well, and this is our massive opportunity to reward ourselves for a really great last campaign. So, why not have the dream and the belief to go all the way? We’ll take it one hurdle at a time, starting with Chiefs.” to the Chiefs ones. Steve’s pressure is not like Arthur’s because pressure at Chiefs, the pressure is unlike any other. Steve’s boys are playing for him, they are very enthusiastic, with little pressure. I believe Chiefs will come out on top and I just hope the boys who’ve been injured, Ashley Du Preez and George Matlou, will be back and ready because they’ve done pretty well so far. I don’t think Chiefs should have released Bernard Parker because these new youngsters need someone like him around, but also because he’s such a utility player and he could shift some pressure off the likes of Khama Billiat. You can’t play Billiat as a striker, you can’t… and I just hope the new striker they’ve roped (Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana) in will do the job for them. They need one more outright striker because they haven’t quite replaced both Samir Nurkovic and Leonardo Castro. Look at Pirates, they have Eva Nga and Kwame Peprah. All in all, Chiefs’ boys are provided with everything and it’s about time they make the chairman, Mr Kaizer Motaung, happy. They’ve got to end the drought and there’s no reason why they should perform under-par anymore. If they win this MTN8 trophy, that will ease off the pressure on Arthur.”