SuperSport United left-back Khumalo was at Etoile’s famous home – the Stade Olympique de Sousse – in March last year and played 90 minutes as Matsatsantsa lost 1-0 in a CAF Confederation Cup first-leg, second-round tie in which the Tunisian club scored with just seven minutes remaining.
The Bucs will be in the resort town of Sousse on Sunday night for the return leg of this year’s Final needing to score to give themselves a chance following a 1-1 draw at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night.
“The one memory that has stayed on my mind up to now about our visit to that stadium [Stade Olympique de Sousse] is the influence of the fans. They are very intimidating, they thrive on frightening the opponents,” recalls Khumalo.
“Yet at the same time they are also very much impatient. They always believe that their team should win at home and when the game reaches the later stages [and they are not winning] they start despairing and can go as far as booing their own team.
“So for Pirates, what they need to do is frustrate them and once they have done that then they will have them in their back pockets. As long as Pirates scores first then they will not only give themselves a huge chance but they will also be able to discourage the home fans, especially in the second half because those fans seem to have a fear of losing at home. When frustrated they become vulnerable.
“If truth be told, those fans are the 12th man for them and they always make the difference because they will sing so loud that even you as players on the field end up not being able to communicate. They [Etoile fans] work on your confidence in a bullying way, they will just want to get you so scared that you end up becoming overawed by the occasion.
“If Pirates are able to go into the last quarter of the match standing on a result that works to their advantage it will irritate the host fans and the Etoile players will also start insulting each other in frustration.
“But then with Pirates having already made trips to Tunisia before they will be familiar with how they have to deal with all the Etoile tactics, some of which will be dirty and unsporting. The best part about Tunisia is that unlike most African countries, besides the issue of fans, everything else is top-notch from accommodation to training grounds,” concludes Khumalo.
Sunday’s match kicks off at 20h30 South African time.