‘No place for the faint-hearted’
LAST-32: ALL STARS TAKE ON POLOKWANE CITY
Revenge in the air because of defeat last year.
African All Stars are well-acquainted with their Nedbank Cup last-32 opponents Polokwane City and there will be no love lost when the two clubs battle it out for a spot in the last-16 tomorrow night. The match at Peter Mokaba Stadium kicks off at 7.30pm.
Amazozo, as All Stars are known to their fans in Ekurhuleni, lost to Rise and Shine in the last-32 last season and have pledged to surprise their opponents this time around.
“The word surprise is not strong enough … I don’t know which word to use for what we will do on Wednesday,” said team spokesman Atwell Sijadu yesterday.
“People will be pleasantly surprised with the kind of football we play. I call on all our fans to watch the match and we will discuss our team better on Thursday when you have seen for yourselves,” he added.
All Stars were established in 2004 and Sijadu said the aim is to be the best on the continent, hence their name.
“We have produced a few players who are now in the professional ranks. Maritzburg United have Lebogang Meboe, who is our product, while at Baroka there is Sipho Moeti. We also have three of our former players at Polokwane in Tebogo Mngomezulu, Lawrence Vilakazi and Sinky Shongwe and Royal Eagles have Thuto Xaba who was honed here,” said Sijadu. Sijadu admitted that
Amazozo have not done well in their ABC Motsepe League campaign and said they hope the Nedbank Cup will reignite them.
“I must admit we have not reached the levels we had aimed for in the league but it is understandable because we rebuilt the team at the beginning of this season, releasing most of our players.
“We were left with about five or six and recruited new talent because we felt the team was stagnating. Players obviously need no motivation for the Nedbank Cup and that is why we have come this far.
“We want to go even further this time around and we know what to expect from Polokwane and they also know us now,” added Sijadu. Amazozo have a balanced mix of experienced players and youth, added Sijadu. “We have players who have played at professional level before like former Santos striker Bheki Shabangu and former Mbombela United player Mxolisi Gumede,” he said.