SuperSport and City’s axes sharpened for title
SUPERSPORT United captain Dean Furman believes an MTN8 final victory over Cape Town City can set his team up to challenge for the Premier Soccer League title this season.
Furman said he wanted to add the MTN8 winners’ medal to his two Nedbank Cup trophies and he believed his club had the players to beat City in the final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday evening.
SuperSport destroyed Orlando Pirates 4-1 in last season’s Cup final.
That victory‚ though‚ had to come as a consolation for the Pretoria team after the disappointment of falling short in the league title race – which was won by Bidvest Wits.
Matsatsantsa eventually finished a disappointing fifth in the PSL.
Furman said SuperSport wanted a more sustained league challenge this season‚ and a start with a trophy in the MTN8 could set the tone for that.
“As SuperSport players, we know we are in this club to lift trophies.
“What a great opportunity we have on Saturday to do just that within a few months after the start of the new season‚” Furman said.
“Last season, we just fell short at the death in the league – and this time we want to change that.
“If we win on Saturday, hopefully that can catapult us into a stronger league push than we had last season.
“We know that some of our fans follow us around the country and we hope that on Saturday we’ll see them dancing with us after lifting the trophy. That is our goal‚” he said.
SuperSport’s only MTN8 conquest was in 2004, when they beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in Durban.
Meanwhile, for rookie coach Benni McCarthy it was more of a headache than any battle with nerves as he readied his Cape Town City charges yesterday to take on SuperSport.
The dilemma for the former Bafana Bafana star is not the prospect of his first final as a club coach, but rather who to pick and who to leave out.
“I have been having headaches in the last couple of days‚ because we have more than 18 [players]‚” McCarthy said at City’s prefinal media conference in Cape Town yesterday.
“I’m having difficulty choosing 18‚ let alone the 11 players who deserve to go on that pitch‚ who deserve to wear that shirt and fight for their teammates‚ the fans and the owners.
“The players have stepped up the intensity quite a lot in training. It’s good that they’re fighting for places.
“We prepared OK – the guys don’t seem too nervous‚ which is probably going to help, come Saturday.” But he expects a tense affair. “Obviously, they [SuperSport] are very disciplined‚ very organised,” McCarthy said of the opponents.
“That’s what [coach] Eric [Tinkler] has instilled in them. It will be difficult, but I think we can deal with it.”