Orlando Pirates have about eight players who are representing their national teams ahead of the MTN8 final and Steve Barker hopes they can take advantage of that.
Pirates will only have two to three days to have a full squad for the MTN8 final, as players who are on national team duty will probably report back on Wednesday and latest Thursday.
Sipho Chaine, Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Oswin Appollis, Sipho Mbule, Thalente Mbatha, Kamogelo Sebelebele, and Relebohile Mofokeng are in the Bafana Bafana squad, while Deon Hotto is with the Namibian national team. Stellies on the other hand only Thabo Moloisane in the Bafana squad.
Barker mentioned that it might be a slight advantage for them ahead of the MTN8 final as they’ve had enough time to prepare for the game and have a full squad, meanwhile, Pirates will have the full squad most probably towards the end of this week.
“No, look, obviously it shows testimony to what a good team they’ve built to have seven players in the national team, and maybe one or two players that are injured, that could have been in the national team, Evidence [Makgopa] who’s been in the national team for a while now, who’s not there now,” Barker told the media.
“So, if you look at the whole squad with Hotto, who’s a seasoned Namibian International, basically, I believe Sihle Nduli is the level that could play national level so basically, they got a team of national team players, which shows the quality. At the same time, what is in our favour and advantage, we’ve only got Thabo [Moloisane] currently there, which has allowed us this week to prepare with our full squad except one, whereas Pirates most likely only get their players rarely fresh and ready to prepare from tomorrow or Thursday onwards.
“But it doesn’t make it easier because it just shows the quality that they have in the team that they’re all playing at a national level. So, all big teams, big clubs in the world have lots of players who are on national duty, and they seem to cope well enough just because of the talent and the quality of the players. They’ve got this system that they’ve been playing, they’ve turned their season around.
“So, I think it doesn’t really give us a massive advantage, but it is nice to be able to work a full week without any midweek games with our squad besides, obviously also having an opportunity last week to prepare the team.”
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