Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker has shared the excitement for his side participating in the CAF Confederations Cup for the first time in the club’s history.
“I’m extremely excited, not only personally but also the whole football club, the players and everybody involved. You know you want to be competing in the continent, you want to be exposing yourself to different teams, you want to be competing at that level. So, we have worked hard to get ourselves in this position,” he said on the club’s YouTube channel.
The Cape Wineland side qualified for the continental competition after finishing third on the log with 50 points last season, they were separated by goal difference from second-placed Orlando Pirates who will also be starting their CAF Champions League journey on Sunday.
“We’ve dreamt of always one day playing on the continent, so that day has arrived yeah, massive excitement, you know a lot of buzz around the club looking forward to that first game ever in Africa.
The Carling Knockout champions will open their campaign with a clash against Eswatini side Nsingizini Hotspurs FC on 17 August at Moses Mabhida Stadium with the return leg set for 24 August at their home ground Danie Craven Stadium.
“It’s nice that obviously you know we have played at Moses (Mabhida Stadium), we know Durban well, we know the stadium well, so that does, in a sense help us but you know the opposition they’ve also worked hard, they would have the same sentiment as we have, they’ve put in a whole season to get into this position, they seem to be a team that’s really ambitious, wanting to do well, camped in South Africa, played at Moses and that shows that they are serious,” Barker added.
The 56-year-old tactician admitted the difficulty of playing in the competition against a team that he does not know much about adding that it is never easy as all sides are aiming to progress and make their mark in the continental stage.
“Look at their position, the way they played last season, not an easy team to beat, conceded some of the fewest goals in the league and we’ve got a few footages of their friendlies that they have played but it’s never easy when you don’t see them play regularly.
“It’s going to be more about us executing our game plan, do what we do well… It’s not going to be easy everybody wants to advance in those continental competitions, so we can’t be complacent, we’ve got to make sure that we leave no stone unturned in our preparations for Saturday,” the coach concluded.
Written by Siphesihle Soni