Menzi Magubane
It’s a historic weekend in South African football, with all three of the country’s giants set to play in the quarter-finals in their respective continental competitions.
On Saturday Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs will play in the CAF Champions League while on Sunday Orlando Pirates are in the Confederation Cup.
It has never happened before where all three play in the knockout stages at the same weekend. So, can they fly the country’s flag higher and be victorious?
Sundowns is the only team playing away and they are already settled in Egypt and waiting to do battle with the title holders.
Chiefs, who are debutantes in the knockout stages, will host Simba of Tanzania at FNB Stadium at 6pm. According to the midfielder Njabulo Blom, they are ready to continue with their incredible form in this competition.
“Since it’s a home and away knockout, it is important that we don’t concede any goals at home. But we need to score more and make our lives easy when we play away,” said Blom.
Simba are no pushovers and they have proved that by beating Al Ahly in the group stages.
“The fact that they topped their group and also beat Al Ahly, shows that they are a good side. So, we won’t underestimate them.
“As Kaizer Chiefs, we are mentality and physically prepared for this match. Yes, we played on Wednesday and they didn’t but we’ve been playing during the week and on weekends the entire season. We are used to it.”
Meanwhile, Pirates are also playing at home against Raja Casablanca from Morocco. This encounter will be held at Orlando Stadium on Sunday at 3pm.
The Bucs also played during the week and their coach Josef Zinnbauer was not impressed with his players’ performance ahead of Sunday’s clash.
“We have a big game on Sunday, and maybe the players’ heads were also on Sunday. But that’s not the right way, we are supposed to first play the game at hand and then concentrate on the next one,” said Zinnbauer.
Picture source:@CelebsNow
