Golden Arrows midfielder Seth Parusnath says they are focusing on themselves and not minding Orlando Pirates, who are their closest rivals in their quest to earn a place to play in Africa next season.
Fourth-placed Pirates and Arrows, sitting third on the Premier Soccer League table, are tied on 43 points but the Buccaneers have a game in hand and will have two outstanding matches after Arrows play TS Galaxy on Wednesday.
With table-toppers Mamelodi Sundowns and second-placed AmaZulu favourites to claim the top-two spots, Pirates and Arrows are locked in a battle to win the rights to participate in next season’s Caf Confederation Cup.
“We're not focused on anybody else. Truth be told, we're focused on ourselves and on what we have to do,” Parusnath told Sowetan Live.
“We know that probably everybody on the outside is looking at it as Pirates will overtake us, obviously because we're equal on points. But for us it's not going to help us to think about that while we have a job at hand.
Next Match
“Every player wants to achieve something along their careers, and playing Caf tournaments is really a big, big step in achieving something as a team and as an individual. The club has never played on the continent before, so it'd be wonderful to go there next season.”
Abafana Bes’thende, as well as fifth-placed Swallows FC, and SuperSport United appear likely to determine Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer’s fate.
If the Soweto giants fail to secure a place to play in Africa next season, that could ring a death knell to his tenure as Pirates coach.
After losing momentum in the last two matches which they lost, Arrows will be trying to gain ground on Wednesday when they host TS Galaxy.
“Starting against Galaxy, we take all our remaining games as cup finals,” Parusnath added.
“It's do or die now for us, especially [seeing] that we've struggled in the past weeks. We're positive we'll win against Galaxy and take a big step towards finishing strongly.”
Pirates, who are now focused on their Confederation Cup fixture against Raja Casablanca, will try to play catch-up in their quest to overtake the KwaZulu-Natal outfit.
