Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou doesn’t see it as a problem.
Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker has shared his views on facing an Orlando Pirates outfit that had eight players on international duty ahead of their MTN8 final clash at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday (kickoff is at 6pm).
Pirates have had to prepare for the clash without Relebohile Mofokeng Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Sipho Mbule, Oswin Appollis, Thalente Mbatha, Kamogelo Sebelebele and Sipho Chaine, who were all part of the Bafana Bafana squad for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Nigeria. They also missed Deon Hotto, who was with Namibia for the qualifiers as well.
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Stellenbosch only had Thabo Moloisane on international duty with Bafana. Barker admits that Stellies have a slight advantage over Pirates ahead of the final.
“They got a team of national team players, which shows the quality. At the same time, what’s in our favour and advantage is we only had Thabo [Moloisane] there,” Barker told the media during the MTN8 final press conference this week.
“But it doesn’t make it easier because it just shows the quality that they have in the team that they’re all playing at a national level. So, big clubs in the world have lots of players who are on national duty, and they seem to cope well enough just because of the talent and the quality of the players.
“They’ve got their system that they’ve been playing. And they’ve turned their season around. So, I think it doesn’t really give us a massive advantage, but it is also nice to be able to work a full week without any midweek games with our squad, besides also having the opportunity last week to prepare the team,” he added.
‘Pirates is a big club’
While most coaches will bemoan playing a cup final just days after the FIFA international break, Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou doesn’t see it as a problem.
“I think it doesn’t affect our work at all. This is part of the work of all big clubs. Orlando Pirates is a big club, and we have internationals, and we have to deal with it,” said Ouaddou.
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“The main part of the job has been done during the preparation. We have been in touch with them [the international players] in many ways in order to keep them aware of the event. So, they have been very close to us, even when they are in the national team, we were in contact with them.
“Also, we had other players here, and we were able to work with them because everybody will be important at that stage.”