Barker believes SA football is in rude health after semifinal blitz

Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker believes South African football is heading in the right direction after Stellies, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates all reached the semifinals of their respective CAF competitions. 

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Sundowns and Pirates are both in the last four of the Caf Champions League. Masandawana will take on Egypt’s Al Ahly in the semifinals, while the Buccaneers will take on Egypt’s Pyramids FC. 

Barker – ‘South African football is strong’

Stellenbosch stunned Egyptian powerhouse Zamalek in the quarterfinals of the Caf Confederation Cup and will now face Simba of Tanzania in the last four. 

“It does show South African football is strong,” said Barker, after Sihle Nduli’s strike in Cairo was enough to complete a 1-0 aggregate victory over last year’s Confederation Cup champions. 

“We have a strong national team (Bafana Bafana) as well, who did well at the AFCON and may qualify for the World Cup. It is good if certain other regions can compete against the North Africans (in club football). 

“We are proud of what we are doing and look forward to the game against Simba.” 

Even after a goalless draw at home to Zamalek in the first leg, Stellies remained confident they could go through, with away goals still counting double in CAF club competitions. 

“It was very important not to concede an away goal,” said Barker. 

“In the home game Zamalek had a big chance in the 86th minute and we made a big save. I think that was the turning point. That was our message to the players. 

“But we still needed hunger, desire and hard work. You don’t come to a place like this against a team like this and win without effort. We knew we would have to make sacrifices and credit to the players for the work they put in.”

‘We didn’t want to go to penalties’

Barker said Stellenbosch’s plan was to keep the game in Cairo goalless and score an away goal as late as possible. It worked perfectly as Ndluli’s strike 11 minutes from time left little possibility for a Zamalek comeback. 

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“We didn’t want to go to penalties. If we could score one we had a big chance to qualify,” added the Stellies head coach. 

“We made subs at half time and then in about the 65th minute. The plan was always to stay at 0-0 until about the 60th or 65th minute, and then to bring on tactical players who can pass and move, pass and move. We also knew Zamalek would start tiring and it worked.”