SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo says “there is still a lot to play for” against Bloemfontein Celtic who grabbed an away goal in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final, but expressed worry that his side are not rested because of crammed fixtures.
The Tshwane giants visit Celtic for Saturday’s second leg on the backdrop of a 1-1 reverse leg draw.
Tembo, however, feels that their opponents will be having the upper hand ahead of the contest at Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium.
“Advantage is with Celtic because they scored an away goal and they have home advantage. Pressure is on them now because they have one foot in the final,” said Tembo as per Sun Sport.
“But there is still a lot to play for. We don’t know what kind of tactics they will apply, whether they will sit back or come at us. We hope to take pressure to them.”
SuperSport United, however, arrive in Bloemfontein on a high after Wednesday’s 1-0 Premier Soccer League win over Stellenbosch.
But balancing closely-arranged fixtures between the league and Cup games does not sit well with Tembo who fears fatigue could creep into his camp.
He leads his side against a Celtic team that appear to be slightly rotating it’s squad to deal with the crammed match schedule.
On top of crammed fears, Tembo will have to do without defenders Grant Kekana and Luke Fleurs as well as midfielder Sipho Mbule.
“It’s a concern, we play week in week out without a rest. This is a different opponent, they rested about seven players. But we hope to improve our performances,” Tembo said.
“Sipho Mbule started training today, he is not fit enough to play. Grant and Luke are not considered for selection. But everyone is raring to go. We trust that we will find solutions. Siya [Nhlapo] will plug the gap, probably we might bring in Bongani [Khumalo].”
The Zimbabwean coach insists that he has players capable of making up a competitive outfit as SuperSport press to make it into the MTN8 final for a third season running.
“We might score early, even if they score early we will still be in the game,” said Tembo.
“Our pressing is good, we are able to deal with space in front of us. Sometimes an away goal can give a false sense of advantage. We have to play our normal game, we have players who can manage the game for us. We have a strong team to put out on Saturday.”