Kaitano Tembo eyes third MTN8 final with SuperSport

Tembo says his good recipe for this tournament is having a good pre-season where he makes sure his “boys” hit the ground running in the top eight competition.

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“It is always about preparation and the effort we put in pre-season because these games come straight after pre-season. We try and make sure that we are way ahead in terms of match fitness and if we look at it now, we have already played three games and that helps the squad in terms of giving players game time. If you play four good games, you can always win the tournament, that has always been our recipe,” said Tembo.

United continue their title defence on Sunday against Bloemfontein Celtic in the first-leg at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

“What is key for us is to not get ahead of ourselves, what’s important now is the first-leg. This game is played over two legs so it can only finish next Saturday in Bloemfontein. We need to be able to manage the game at home so that it gives us a better chance to fight for it in the second-leg.”

The Spartans come from the back of 3-1 loss at the hands of Golden Arrows in the league and Tembo says his players are looking to rectify their mistakes.

“If your team puts in a flat performance it can only come down to one thing and for me I think coming off a very energy setting game where we played against Black Leopards where we played against 10-man and did well, and then two days later we played Arrows away and there are no excuses for that performance and the players know that. They would like to redeem that and correct that in this game because I think we have had enough time to recoup and regroup. The challenge for us is to stay fresh for Sunday’s game.”

“It is always important not to concede at home and any advantage that we might have going into the second-leg will help. Conceding at home is something we want t avoid but at the same time if we win 2-1 or 1-0, it still gives us a foundation in terms of preparing for the second-leg,” concluded Tembo.

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