History beckons for Matsatsantsa as they head into arguably the biggest match in their history. They’ve shown they are cup specialists on home soil, so now it’s time to show what they can do on the continent against Africa’s best.
Eric Tinkler’s men have a tough match ahead of them when they take on defending CAF Confederation Cup champions TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi on Sunday, needing a good result to bring back home for the second leg six days later.
Matsatsantsa are without suspended pair Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Morgan Gould, while Teboho Mokoena looks set to miss out with injury. They do, however, believe they have a strong enough squad to pull off the victory.
“It will be massive [to win the tournament]. It will put the name of SuperSport on the African continent, which I don’t think it is right now,” Tinkler said.
“People will start taking SuperSport more serious. I don’t think TP Mazembe took this team serious when they played them at home [during the group stages]. They had no clue who SuperSport United was. But I promise you now they know who SuperSport United is. Obviously when you lift that title, you become a known name on the African continent and that’s what this club wants to be and that’s what I want this club to be.”
Tinkler has been to two club continental finals in his coaching career, first as an assistant in the 2013 Champions League at Pirates and then as the head coach of the same club in the 2015 Confederation Cup final. He was on the losing side on both occasions, but he is hoping that things work out differently this time round. He is determined to win silverware on the continent and beyond in future.
“This is something I would love to have on my CV. It’s always been my objective as a coach, to not only win things locally, but I want to win things on the African continent and even further than that. That’s my ambition and that’s what I will strive to achieve.”