Club football finally returns to action this weekend following a 10-day recess, during which the South African national team managed to beat Angola and advance to the group stages of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Bucs face Etoile du Sahel at home on Saturday in their first competitive match since their Telkom Knockout elimination at the hands of arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs earlier this month.
Jele, who has recently returned to full fitness after suffering a hamstring injury three weeks ago, says some competitive action in the build-up to Saturday’s first leg clash would have been ideal but concedes that the lengthy break helped them learn more about their Tunisian counterparts.
“As a player, you always want to play every week – every two days if possible – because we train longer [when we don’t play], so we want to play so the sessions can become shorter,” says Jele.
“But this time I think the break came at a good time because we didn’t know much about our opponents, and the coaches have been doing a great job in analysing them.
“So far we’ve been preparing very well; we know what to do [in the game] and we know [Etoile] now.”
The 28-year old also believes their three competitive matches against Kaizer Chiefs and Ajax Cape Town before the break created some good momentum.
“I think it’s going to be a big game for us; it’s the last game at home in this competition, and I think it’s very important for the team to grab a winning mentality here at home in order to take that [psychological] advantage when we go away.
“I think the momentum has been good [leading up to this weekend’s match]. We’ve played against the big teams here in the country and we did well, so I think the morale is high and everyone is prepared for this match.”