Hola Mabhakaniya, this is your captain speaking! It’s been 18 years since our beloved Orlando Pirates team were crowned African champions and I believe that this year history will repeat itself. In 1995 we went to the second leg of the Final against Asec Abidjan needing a win after we drew 2-2 at home and the home side needed a draw. We went there against all odds and came back with a win and a trophy. After the referee blew the final whistle we didn’t believe what we had just achieved, but we did it … that is the day we made history! I believe that in this [second leg, semifinal] match against Esperance we are in a much better position than we were ahead of the second leg Final [against Asec] and the boys will do it. I have no doubt about it. But the most important thing is that we must focus on football and football only. When we arrive in Tunisia we will be treated badly; we will come against hostile fans and media, so the players need to focus. If the players are told they can’t train at the stadium on the eve of the match, they must not complain, they need to keep their heads up because these things happen in Africa. The opposition team will embark on dirty tricks to put us off and this is when players need to be mentally strong and not allow oppositions to play tricks which can put them off. When we were campaigning in Africa we use to read what the papers and magazines were saying and we used to listen to radio shows, and when there were negative things said about us we did not complain. If the players decide to read papers or internet, that’s fine. But they must not complain when they read about people saying bad things about them. This is a democratic society; there will be people who will say good things and some will bad things and they have a right to do so. But our players need to accept this. To Roger de Sa, I wish him the best of luck. And playing away from home in this competition he has proved he can take us to great heights. To all my Buccaneers out there, let us put on our jerseys and support the team this week. Black is back noma kanjani… Edward Motale
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 15:51:09 +0000
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