As the only National First Division side left in the competition, Ubuntu FC – who started out as an academy before purchasing the FC Cape Town franchise last year – have been riding the crest of the wave in the competition, knocking out top-flight clubs Polokwane City and AmaZulu on their way to the last eight – a feat not even they imagined would occur.
“It’s definitely been a significant amount of publicity we couldn’t have gotten any other way – it’s been a real bonus and not something we expected to have happened this season,” head coach prince told snl24.com/kickoff.
“We didn’t know how big this Nedbank Cup could be in terms of coverage – we just went in thinking ‘these are the games on our schedule, let’s play them!’ and it’s been a great benefit for people to hear more about our story, and what we’ve been accomplishing since 2011.”
Another PSL club in Stars are next in line this weekend, with Prince insisting all the pressure is on his opponents to deliver, while playing
for a draw has not even crossed their mind.
“That’s not really in our nature – I don’t really know how to do that,” he said. “We’ll just continue to be who we are – we won’t have as much of the ball as we’re used to, but it’ll be about figuring out their pressure, how hard it comes and where it comes from. I think they’ll put us under a lot of pressure as they’re going to counter quickly, and I think it’ll be a lot different to our previous games against AmaZulu and Polokwane City, so we’ll just have to adjust.
“There’s no real pressure on us – the pressure is really on them – we’re just going out there to enjoy and express ourselves, and be who we are.”
In stark contrast to their impressive Cup run, Ubuntu are struggling in the league, sitting second from bottom with just six matches left in the campaign. Following Saturday’s clash, two crucial encounters against Real Kings at home on Tuesday, and Super Eagles away the following weekend, await, with Prince noting their importance.
“We’d like to win everything, obviously, but we have to manage this very carefully,” he said. “Tuesday is probably the most important game we have coming up. Yes Saturday is great, and an important showpiece and an amazing opportunity, but Tuesday is massively important for us.
“So we’ll have to manage the squad well – there’ll definitely be some rotations, and we’ve kind of figured out how we want to spread the work
load over the upcoming games, to have the right mix of quality and freshness.”
Kick-off against Stars on Saturday is set for 15h30.