Maritzburg can beat us because we didn’t beat Chiefs, says Pitso

The Downs mentor has cautioned against taking the Team of Choice lightly, especially after they beat Absa Premiership table- toppers Kaizer Chiefs in the semifinal.

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“I don’t think we are favourites, I think Maritzburg has an edge, they have been doing very well. Maybe we are talking about the profiles of the clubs, then of course, we can’t use any excuse to say… we are not favourites in that space. But football is a match and a cup is not like the league… whoever is ready will win it. You also need a bit of luck,” said Mosimane.

“Marizburg have done well and if they could create so many scoring opportunities against a team that is on top of the log and winning every game (Chiefs), then if we don’t respect that, they can beat us because we didn’t beat Chiefs.

“The worst thing you can do is look at the log position of Maritzburg and us and look at the past results and say we have an upper hand. Yes, we’ve been winning against them but that won’t help us now,” Mosimane added.

“Jingles” sounded doubtful about whether star player Themba Zwane would be ready for today as he has just returned from an injury lay-off and ended up playing a full 90 minutes against Stellenbosch FC earlier this week.

“It so good to have to have Themba Zwane back…he just doesn’t have the match speed and the fitness but when we need him against Stellenbosch he turned up. I am wondering if I did not overload him. I wanted to build him up gradually but I was forced to keep him on the pitch because of the injury to Rivaldo Coetzee,” added Mosimane.

Mosimane has good memories of the KwaZulu-Natal province as he has lifted two trophies, the first being his maiden league title at the helm of Downs in the 2013/14 season where they celebrated at the Harry Gwala Stadium.

“When it comes to trophies, the kingdom of KwaZulu-Natal has been good to us. For me the first piece of silverware that I won was in Maritzburg when we won the league for the first time since I took over,” said Mosimane, who also enjoyed cup success in 2015 when he led the Brazilians to a 3-1 win over Amakhosi in the Telkom Knockout at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

“The other one was an unbelievable display here in the same cup when Denis Onyango saved two penalties. It was one of our best performances and I remember a lot of goals.

Kick-off is at 6pm.

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