Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker says facing Orlando Pirates again in the MTN8 final will not be about redemption as his side will treat it like a new game.
Stellies secured a place in the final after drawing 1-1 with Sekhukhune United in the semi-final 2nd leg at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers needed penalties against Mamelodi Sundowns in an earlier kick off to progress to the final.
Stellies and Pirates met last season in the final which was won by the Ghost under controversial circumstances and the coach says though they will start actually preparing for this game a bit later, he hopes it will be a fair contest this time around.
“It’s not about redemption,” said Barker.
“It’s not about anything. Pirates have changed players they’ve got a new coach it’s a new game. All I hope is that the game doesn’t end up being decided by a controversial moment either way for either team and it’s just a fair contest.
“But yeah, they’re obviously a good team they showed midweek how good they are when they dominated us for the first 20, 25 minutes. So, a lot of lessons for us to learn from that, but we’ll only concentrate on that after the following week. We’ve got some league matches in between, as close as Tuesday already, so we need to get back to Cape Town, regenerate and get ourselves up and running in the league. And then, obviously, Sundowns is the following week, and then we’ll start preparing for the final.”
Barker added that getting to the final is important for him and his players as they want to create legacies and they have ambitions of lifting the Wafa Wafa trophy.
“I think you know as coaches and as football players, you want to be playing in as many finals as you can, and you want to be winning as many trophies as you can,” added Barker.
“I think for a player to have a legacy and leave a legacy, and one day to be able to show their grandchildren and children the medals and trophies, I think that’s the most important part why footballers put in the effort each and every day and train hard and have dreams and have ambitions.
“So, we’ve got a massive ambition to lift trophies, and you know, the MTN is now one game away from achieving that.”
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