Menzi Magubane
The moment of truth has finally arrived for Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates in their respective CAF competitions this weekend.
South African football lovers will be glued to their television sets watching and hoping that the so called “Big Three” of the country make it to their respective semi-finals.
Amakhosi are favorites to progress to the Champions League semis after thrashing Simba 4-0 in the first leg in Soweto last Saturday. Chiefs are already in Tanzania for the return leg scheduled for Saturday at Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium at 3pm.
A lot has been reported about how Simba overturned the same scoreline 42 years ago, beating Mufulira Wanderers of Zambia 5-0 at home and winning the tie 5-4 to progress to the next stage in this competition. The current players have said that they want to emulate that remarkable history.
But for Chiefs striker Samir Nurkovic that is just that, history.
“To be honest, we can’t really think about those things. All we need to do is to focus on our game, how are we going to perform on Saturday,” said Nurkovic.
The Serbian marksman was instrumental in Chiefs’ win last week, scoring two goals. In Tanzania the same performance will be expected from him and his teammates if Chiefs were to seal the tie.
“We just have to stay focused and move on with the same fighting spirit from the last game, continue with the same performance and everything will be fine. We are doing everything to go to the semis.”
In Tshwane, Sundowns will also be looking to overturn a 2-0 first leg scoreline on Saturday. Downs lost to Al Ahly in Egypt in the Champions League and on Saturday they host them at Lucas Moripe Stadium at 3pm.
Another team that is facing an uphill battle is Pirates. The Bucs made life difficult for themselves when they were held at home by Raja Casablanca last Sunday in the Confederation Cup.
Now the Moroccans have the crucial away goal going to the return leg on Sunday at Stade Mohamed V Casablanca at 6pm.
Picture source:@kaizerchiefs
