The Buccaneers are the last remaining team from South Africa in African competition and take on AS Kaloum of Guinea, 2-0 up after the first leg, in the second leg of their CAF Confederation Cup group stage qualifier at Bidvest Stadium on Saturday. Kick-off is at 15h00.
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“Everyone is excited to be playing in this tournament and we don’t mind that we are playing during the off-season either. This is what it takes to play at a big club that has massive ambitions; there is no calendar when it comes to achieving," Mhlongo tells the Pirates website.
“We also understand that this is about more than just us and our fans, it’s about the country in its entirety. That’s why we just carry on doing our thing as far as we can, and look to win this next match and advance to the group stages.
“We will look to defend well, like we did in the first leg, but our main objective would undoubtedly be to get that early goal which would put us in a better position. We are just focused on the job at hand which would be to win this game in order to advance. We are not even taking the away result into account because for us it is like those two goals do not exist.
“We need to apply ourselves like we did in the away match where they came hard at us and we kept them at bay. It is going to be a tough match but we need to start well. We need to focus on keeping the clean sheet, closing them down, and implement our plan.
“It will obviously be tougher because we’ll be without [Mpho] Makola and [Siyabonga] Sangweni [both suspended], but as a team we have made it this far because when others aren’t available, the guys who come in continue to do the job. We fight for each other and are focused on the same goal. Whoever gets the nod will bring their A-game and the level of depth in our squad is a huge plus for us.”
Mhlongo is not concerned about playing at Bidvest Stadium due to pitch maintenance at Orlando Stadium and says it will make little difference.
“The important thing for us is that we are playing in a continental tournament, representing our country and we appreciate the support we get from our country, which is why playing at Bidvest is not a problem. We can just as easily play anywhere in the country and it will still be a Pirates home game,” he adds.
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“Fortunately we are acclimatised to Bidvest Stadium because we play there so often. We are going to draw strength from the fact that we are playing within our own borders, which effectively makes it our home ground, even if for 90 minutes.”