Chippa United sail into uncharted territory as they target a first-ever cup final berth in their MTN8 clash against Mamelodi Sundowns at Lucas Moripe Stadium tonight (7.30pm).
The Chilli Boys will carry the hopes of thousands of Eastern Cape fans into tonight’s second leg semifinal as they attempt to topple Pitso Mosimane’s star-studded Brazilians in their own backyard.
Chippa have never made it this far in a knockout tournament at this level and coach Dan “Dance” Malesela’s young troops are relishing the opportunity of upstaging the PSL champions.
The added incentive is that the Chilli Boys will be looking to make history tonight by gaining their first-ever victory over Sundowns.
The Port Elizabeth side have never beaten Sundowns since their arrival in the big league but Malesela is confident that his team will rise to the occasion tonight.
Chippa will draw on the fact that they go into the match with the knowledge of knowing that away goals will work to their advantage.
“There are two advantages. Sundowns have an advantage that they are playing at home, we have an advantage of the away goal rule,” said Malesela.
“I think both sides have an advantage and I know the Sundowns people will come out in big numbers . . . that might be an added advantage to them.
“Having said that ours is a more of a powerful tool if we use it. If we score for them to win they have to score two goals.
“Any scored draw for us is a plus but we are obviously not going to sit and play for a draw or anything like that.
“What we need to do first is not to concede which is important for a cup match but also try and put pressure by scoring.”
There is also a possibility that the game might end in a goalless draw as it did in the first leg at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
This time around though penalties will be the decider of the day in the event of a goalless stalemate.
“We want to try and avoid penalties as much as possible because penalties are just something else. But they are part of the game,” he said. “You can’t run away from that part of reality. We will try as much as possible to avoid that.”
Mosimane said at the weekend he is considering playing his B team against Chippa tonight, due to extensive game time and travelling his players have been exposed to due to a hectic schedule.
But Malesela does not buy into it saying: “I doubt if he will do that. You know every game is important and there is pressure to win every game. Particularly these games that decide a cup you will obviously want to win those. Maybe they might rest one or two players.”
In their last league fixture against SuperSport United the Chilli Boys played defensive football which was a bit surprising considering the team’s attacking style.
They only had two chances at goal in the entire 90 minutes.
“On the contrary SuperSport were defending,” said Malesela.
“We just struggled opening them up and at times we left ourselves a bit open for the counter-attack.
“We can’t do that, we are not used to sitting back and waiting for people to come to us.
“If we start doing that now, I do not know how long it will take to get it right, because it’s not something we have learnt.”
It’s game on for Chippa
The Chilli Boys will carry the hopes of thousands of Eastern Cape fans into tonight’s second leg semifinal as they attempt to topple Pitso Mosimane’s star-studded Brazilians in their own backyard.
Chippa have never made it this far in a knockout tournament at this level and coach Dan “Dance” Malesela’s young troops are relishing the opportunity of upstaging the PSL champions.
The added incentive is that the Chilli Boys will be looking to make history tonight by gaining their first-ever victory over Sundowns.
The Port Elizabeth side have never beaten Sundowns since their arrival in the big league but Malesela is confident that his team will rise to the occasion tonight.
Chippa will draw on the fact that they go into the match with the knowledge of knowing that away goals will work to their advantage.
“There are two advantages. Sundowns have an advantage that they are playing at home, we have an advantage of the away goal rule,” said Malesela.
“I think both sides have an advantage and I know the Sundowns people will come out in big numbers . . . that might be an added advantage to them.
“Having said that ours is a more of a powerful tool if we use it. If we score for them to win they have to score two goals.
“Any scored draw for us is a plus but we are obviously not going to sit and play for a draw or anything like that.
“What we need to do first is not to concede which is important for a cup match but also try and put pressure by scoring.”
There is also a possibility that the game might end in a goalless draw as it did in the first leg at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
This time around though penalties will be the decider of the day in the event of a goalless stalemate.
“We want to try and avoid penalties as much as possible because penalties are just something else. But they are part of the game,” he said. “You can’t run away from that part of reality. We will try as much as possible to avoid that.”
Mosimane said at the weekend he is considering playing his B team against Chippa tonight, due to extensive game time and travelling his players have been exposed to due to a hectic schedule.
But Malesela does not buy into it saying: “I doubt if he will do that. You know every game is important and there is pressure to win every game. Particularly these games that decide a cup you will obviously want to win those. Maybe they might rest one or two players.”
In their last league fixture against SuperSport United the Chilli Boys played defensive football which was a bit surprising considering the team’s attacking style.
They only had two chances at goal in the entire 90 minutes.
“On the contrary SuperSport were defending,” said Malesela.
“We just struggled opening them up and at times we left ourselves a bit open for the counter-attack.
“We can’t do that, we are not used to sitting back and waiting for people to come to us.
“If we start doing that now, I do not know how long it will take to get it right, because it’s not something we have learnt.”
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