Mind games escalate ahead of Sundowns v Pirates

Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns coaches are embracing the underdog tag ahead of their quarterfinal tie in the Nedbank Cup on Thursday in Pretoria.

ALSO READ: Zinnbauer – Orlando Pirates are the underdogs

Pirates head coach Jozef Zinnbauer suggested that Sundowns, who are enjoying a great run of form in the DStv Premiership and are the defending Nedbank Cup champions, are overwhelming favourites, but Rulani Mokwena does not want to entertain Zinnbauer’s sentiments and chooses to crawl into his corner of defence.

“I’d like to not respond to Jozef Zinnbauer’s comments in case I am misinterpreted,” said the Masandawana co-head coach.

“The facts are on the pitch and if we look at the two teams at this moment in time, it is clear who goes into the match with more pressure than the other. We have played our last games only in the space of April. Of course that allude to what we have and the immediate focus is that in the last seven days, Pirates will be playing their second match and we will be playing our third match,” he added.

Mokwena continued to emphasise about the “advantage” that the Buccaneers have, mentioning how well-rested they are as opposed to his Sundowns side that will be playing for the second time this week after they travelled to the Sisa Dukashe Stadium where they beat Chippa Boys 2-1.

“If there is any form of advantage I would say Pirates have a huge advantage even in relation to their previous fixture, they played on Sunday and on Monday they had what we call an invincible session which is regeneration, massages and everything else to freshen the squad up and while they were recovering, we were playing against Chippa United,” said Mokwena.

He continued: “48 hours after they had recovered, which was on Tuesday, we were travelling from the Eastern Cape. It is for you to see who goes into the fixture with the advantage and when you have the advantage it is difficult to be the underdog, but it is what it is and it has a huge influence on the performances of both teams but we are not complaining, we understand that pressure is not a privilege.”