The quartet of South Africa clubs in the African club competitions begins this week on their search for continental glory in what is the beginning of a grueling six-month campaign in search of glory.
None of Mamelodi Sundowns or Orlando Pirates in the Champions League, neither Kaizer Chiefs of Free State Stars in the Confederation Cup got a bye at the start of their leagues and will therefore play the maximum number of matches if they want to cancel the trophy.
For the Champions League duo this means adding 16 matches to an already packed domestic schedule, while for Chiefs and stars it is a potential extra 18 games between now and May.
Pirates returns to the Champions League on Wednesday-evening for the first time since their finalists with coach Micho Sredojevic, who emphasizes that this season is a crucial match for them.
It is the reason why they have made large-scale additions to their team in all positions in the previous transfer window, and it will be a test of how they can manage the players on three fronts with a Telkom Knockout final that also comes on December 8th. .
They had a soft start against the Seychelles' light stars, who sent BidVest Wits 9-0 to the Confederation Cup two years ago, but Sredojevic, once the diplomat, refuses to take them lightly.
"I've seen the draw for our team, I believe it's competitive, we want to take one step at a time, there's no easy opponent, we have to respect every opponent," he told reporters.
"Our strategic goal is to go step by step, our first step is to enter the group stage of the Champions League."
They play the second stage on the Seychelles next week and then come home with a crazy look to travel to Port Elizabeth for their Telkom Knockout decision-maker at Baroka FC.
Sundowns also starts Wednesday with the Champions League for the fifth consecutive time.
Trainer Pitso Mosimane was desperately disappointed to leave the group stage in 2018, especially as a group in which they had a strong tendency to rise.
They are away on Equatorial Guinea side Leones Vegetarianos, translated as & # 39; Vegetarian Lions & # 39; on Wednesday and although it should be a routine task, Sundown has managed to be their own worst enemies this season.
Sundowns have a number of injury concerns, with Hlompho Kekana, Denis Onyango, Themba Zwane, Tiyani Mabunda, Andile Jali, Ricardo Nascimento, Oupa Manyisa, Anele Ngcongca, Jeremy Brockie and Thapelo Morena who all suffer from various bumps and bruises, take too long -term absent such as Sibusiso Vilakazi.
The return-game will be played next Wednesday in Loftus Stadium.
Kaizer Chiefs have decided to take their Confederation Cup match against Zanzibar minnows Zimamoto at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday evening.
While the supporters of Chief will be more likely to be consumed after the loss of the Telkom knockout on Saturday after losing Telkom Knockout to Orlando Pirates, this offers a chance to score well for a team of only six of their 19 games won in all competitions this season.
Even for this stuttering team of Chiefs this should be a good home win and coach Giovanni Solinas will probably throw some marginal players into the mix.
Free State Stars play their very first game in the African club competition against Rwandan Mukura Victory Sports at the BidVest Stadium in Johannesburg.
The movement is partly to save costs, as if Stars had wanted to play the game at their usual Bethlehem home. They would have had to fly the entire Rwandan entourage to Bloemfontein, because CAF does not allow teams to travel more than 200 kilometers by road.
It will be a feature of Stars' campaign as long as they participate in the competition, but do not have to worry about co-caretaker coaches Sly Mosala and David Vilakazi, who have taken the lead after Luc Eymael's departure.
Source link