Staff Reporter.
Cape Town City will go head to head with Mamelodi Sundowns in the 2021 MTN8 final at the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 6:00 PM CAT.
Eric Tinkler, the City head coach, who won the 2017 MTN8 with SuperSport United, insisted that Sundowns are the favourites, but he is confident that his charges will put on a good performance against reigning DStv Premiership champions.
“I think it’s important for the teams to enjoy the moment…you managed to get yourselves to the final,” Tinkler said.
“And you’re playing against a very good team in Mamelodi Sundowns who are definite favourites and we go in as the underdogs and that’s a good position to be in, in my opinion, to be the underdogs.
“We will work extremely hard during the week in terms of our preparation and our planning and I’m pretty confident that the boys will want to go out there and put on a good performance come Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Sundowns are desperate to end their long wait for the Top 8 trophy having made their last appearance in the final in 2007 when the tournament was still known as the SAA Supa 8 and they defeated Orlando Pirates to clinch the title.
Sundowns who have won the Top 8 trophy three times, eliminated Kaizer Chiefs and Arrows en route to this year’s final, and they remain undefeated across all competitions this season.
Rhulani Mokwena, Sundowns’ co-head coach, says he is counting on fellow co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi and senior coach Steve Komphela’s know-how to bring home the MTN8 cup.
“I think I have to personalise the question about the lack of experience for cup finals, then the good thing is we have the experience that coach Mngqithi has with cup finals,”Mokwena said.
“Then Komphela, with the experience he has in cup finals, then the experience the players have in cup finals, I think we are blessed in that space to have players who have played cup finals.
“So we are fortunate that we got enough experience not just from a player personnel but from the technical staff, people that have done exceptionally well in cup finals.”
Mngqithi led Arrows to the 2009 MTN8 title triumph, but Komphela, who guided Kaizer Chiefs to the 2015 MTN8 final, will not be on the bench against City due to suspension.
The Premier Soccer League on Wednesday announced that 2 000 people will be allowed to watch the MTN 8 final live at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban on Saturday, but it won’t be fans.