Pirates host the Etoile in the first leg of the ‘Confeds Cup’ at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night before they travel to Sousse, Tunisia for the return leg a week later on November 29.
This Final is being played just after the FIFA calendar week which means it will be two weeks since Bucs last played an official match – which was a Telkom Knockout penalty shootout semi-final defeat to Kaizer Chiefs.
During that FIFA break Pirates have been minus Mpho Makola, Thamsanqa Gabuza, Thabo Matlaba, Issa Sarr, Felipe Ovono and Edwin Gyimah (not registered for CAF) while the duo of Menzi Masuku and Gift Motupa spent the past week with the South Africa Under-23 squad.
“The mood in camp has been excellent,” declares Tinkler.
“We have done a lot of analysis on the opposition and we sat with the players on three to four occasions speaking about their [Etoile du Sahel’s] strengths and weaknesses and what we need to do in order to get a positive result, particularly at home.
“Sessions have been nice and long for a change because previously we have obviously been heavily involved in various competitions that we have been playing every three days. So in terms of getting the guys prepared for the next game hasn’t been an easy task but with the FIFA break we have obviously had a bit more time with the players to try and fix certain areas of our game to improve, particular defensively and offensively. We have been creating a lot of chances and not scoring so now we have spent some time trying to rectify that.
“Tactically we have had more time in terms of preparing for this game and obviously there are certain members of the squad that haven’t been here but will be arriving from their national teams. However, I have been very happy with the preparations so far.”
Pirates have done much of their preparations minus their Bafana internationals who all started against Angola last night, with Matlaba the only one to finish the match. All three came out without any injury worries.
“It obviously works in our favour because the players get a little bit of rest which is something that we haven’t had a lot. Mpho, Gabuza and Matlaba are all important players and they have been involved in us getting to where we are now,” he says.
“So being the important players that they are the ideal scenario for me would have been that they didn’t play at all and that they were back here at training with me but that is not the case. One has to respect the decisions because it was an important game for Bafana Bafana despite having won away. I am just happy that they have come back unscathed, which was very important for us.”
Also away on international duty was Issa Sarr who was called up by Senegal but sat on the bench in both games against Madagascar as the Lions of Teranga reached the group stages of qualification.
Goalkeeper Felipe Ovono played both games for Equatorial Guinea against Morocco while the ineligible Edwin Gyimah was on the bench in both of Ghana’s games against Comoros.