Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker says his team having nothing to lose in the second leg of the MTN8 semi-final against Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium this weekend.
Stellies lost the first leg 2-1 at Athlone Stadium, meaning to reach the final they will have to score at least two goals to counter Pirates’ away strikes.
Barker knows it will be a big challenge, especially with two key players missing from that first leg, in suspended Olivier Toure, and Sibongiseni Mthethwa, who has moved to Kaizer Chiefs.
But South Africa’s current longest-serving head coach also warned that his team have nothing to lose and intend on leaving it all on the pitch as they look to reach their first ever domestic final.
“Ja, What do they say? The wounded animal is most dangerous at times,” Barker said in the pre-match press conference.
“No, it’s important that we know it’s over and out, there’s nothing we can do. And we need to be positive. And we need to look forward to a fantastic opportunity.
“It’s not every year that you’re in a semi-final of a major trophy. So we are positive and looking forward to that. Now there’ll be like (people thinking that they), haven’t got Ox (Sibongiseni Mthethwa), (Olivier) Toure’s on a red card is not available, there’s this injury and that injury, and ja, we know that it’s not going to be an easy task.
“But sometimes when you have your back against the wall, that’s when you are dangerous, and we have absolutely nothing to lose. We know we have to score two goals. If we score two and they score five, we would have not achieved the objective, but we want to obviously score two goals to keep us in the tie.
“The game doesn’t change, in that even if they score first, we still have to score two goals. If it’s 2-1 and it goes to extra time, we’ll take that. It would be interesting, should we take a lead, how they respond and how the game then goes forward.
“So we have a chance, we’ve shown both games against Pirates, that we’ve beaten them the season and we lost 2-1 but I thought we were lucky maybe not to get a draw out of the game, even though we were down to 10 men.
“So it’s not as if we don’t have our chances, obviously away from home at Orlando Stadium, it’s maybe even a more difficult task. But we played them at Athlone, which isn’t really our home ground either so playing them there, we just have to go there and we actually got to change our mood in terms of enjoying the moment, enjoy the opportunity, you’re in a semi-final, opportunity to go to a final.
“We’ve got to go there and we’ve got to know it’s separate to the league. The league has its own pressures. But it’s a different game. It’s a different tournament, so we can really approach it with positivity, with energy, and give it our best shot.
“Should we fail, it won’t be because we haven’t tried, that I can guarantee, we will try our best and we’ll be as committed as ever. And ja, Stranger things have happened. It’s not impossible for us to get to the final.”
