Former Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba, now Witbank Spurs mentor, said his men were ready for the daunting task of a Nedbank Cup clash against Lamontville Golden Arrows on 16 February.
The last 16 clashes of the country’s richest soccer cup competition with a purse of R20 million, dubbed the David versus Goliath cup for its inclusion of teams from the lower rungs of the soccer ladder, will be played at the Puma Stadium in eMalahleni.
Local side Highlands Park, which is based in Balfour Park, will take on high-riding Cape Town City at the Cape Town Stadium on the evening of 15 February while Cape Town’s The Magic FC takes on Kaizer Chiefs.
Magic is the only side from the Safa lower structures left in the Nedbank Cup. The SAB League side will play the biggest match of its history against Amakhosi in what will be a David vs Goliath clash at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Speaking at a press conference at the Premier Soccer League offices in Parktown, Johannesburg, Mashaba, who said his task at his National First Division side was to steer the team away from relegation, said he would treat this clash in the same vein as the relegation matches he was fighting.
“This will be a tough match, probably tougher than the relegation matches, but we’re ready to face the challenge,” he said.
“Arrows play an exciting brand of football in the Absa Premiership. They’re tricky and you may think you have them covered here, and they sneak out the other end.
“Be that as it may be, we’re not going into the game like sheep to the slaughter. We shall put up a fight, and who knows, anything can happen in football. We’re determined to make our mark in this competition.”
Top Spurs striker Khethukuthula Zwane, who accompanied his coach to the press conference, described him not just as a coach but a father figure and top motivator such that whenever ‘we’re not training we always look forward to the next session’.
“If this team can remain intact for a second season next year, people will be lamenting the transformation that will have taken place. Watch this space,” Mashaba added.
Amakhosi coach Ernst Middendorp told the same press conference he was confident of victory in the Magic clash. “They may be a closed book to us but that will not deter us from exerting our dominance and coming out victorious.”
Related article:
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/212636/bucs-cruise-second-round-nedbank-cup/
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/181882/peter-mokaba-stadium-to-host-nedbank-cup-final/
