National duty returnees doubtful for SuperSport against Arrows

SuperSport United head coach Kaitano Tembo has all the time to study Golden Arrows, who they visit this Saturday at the Princess Magogo Stadium in a DStv Premiership clash. The Fifa international break has afforded Tembo the time to plot and strategize against Lehlohonolo Seema’s side, saying Abafana Bes’thende’s flamboyant style of play might be their Achilles heel.

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“Playing a team that is high on confidence is always tough. We just have to go out there with the right mentality and attitude to try and fight for each and every ball and not give them too much space on the ball. But they risk a lot, they risk possession of the ball and we will try and take advantage of that but I am anticipating a tough game – we will be ready for them,” said Tembo.

However, to execute his plan against Arrows, Tembo won’t have some of his usual starters as some of them were involved with national teams and only linked up with the rest of the team today (Friday).

“We have a very thin squad and we will have to call upon our youngsters to be part of the match day squad. We have about four players who were away and are only joining the team on Friday (today) and we are playing on Saturday. To some players it was good but to some it was not because some will come back jetlagged. Moses Waiswa was playing in Pakistan, Gamphani Lungu was playing in Turkey, Thatayaone Ditlhokwe went to Botswana and Ronwen Williams played in France,” said Tembo.

On the positive side, however, Tembo is excited to have the Matsatsantsa A Pitori nation back in the stands after the Premier Soccer League gave the green light to spectators, opening up half of the match venue capacity to fans. Tembo says the SuperSport fans’ propelling brass band is exactly what they need to spur them on towards a decent finish to the season.

“It is a major boost because we can see the game has changed a bit in terms of consistency and we probably lacked motivation coming from the fans. You always want to see your supporters cheering the guys and now we are quite happy that they are coming back and hopefully that will give the players a lot of encouragement to do well.”