Johannesburg –Roger De Sa has warned the Pirates not to take heart from the news that they will face Al Ahly in an empty stadium.
“When we played them in the final (of the 2013 CAF Champions League), we were told the stadium would be empty. Then they changed and said they will only allow 5 000 fans. But when we got there, the stadium was full and as we were warming up they opened up for more fans,” recalls De Sa, who was in charge of the Buccaneers back then.
“So I hope Pirates do not read too much into talk that there will be no crowd. They’ll do well to brace themselves for anything ranging from a hostile crowd that will point lasers at them and fill the stadium with red smoke and make noise with their drums. Al Ahly’s fans are definitely their 12th man.”
The crowd factor aside, De Sa is confident his former club will overcome the Caf Confederation Cup champions and reach the final of the second tier continental competition.
Pirates take a 1-0 lead to Egypt where they face the wounded giants at the New Suez Stadium and the Ajax Cape Town coach says the Buccaneers can register a second win over the Red Devils. Two years ago, Pirates hammered Ahly 3-0 in the group stages only to come a cropper when they met again in the final.
De Sa remembers both those matches vividly and says they owed a lot of their victory to “the surprise factor” while the unavailability of key players was behind their coming unstuck 2-0 in the one that really mattered.
“Ahly did not expect us to take the game to them as we did. But we were also fortunate because (the late) Senzo (Meyiwa) saved a penalty that would have seen them get the match to 1-1 and then we went and scored immediately thereafter.
“But in the final we did not have Andile Jali and Happy Jele and that really left us pretty thin. And remember we went there having conceded a goal at home and the score at 1-1.”
Not so this time though, and De Sa believes Pirates’ 1-0 lead gives them a great advantage.
“Unlike in our final when they could afford to sit back, Ahly have to come at Pirates this time. They have to open up a bit and this will work in Pirates’ favour because they are very good on the counter. I feel they will score there.”
A big part of De Sa’s confidence in Pirates stems from what he believes is some kind of fall from grace on the part of the Egyptians.
“Ahly are no longer the team they used to be. Without (Mohamed) Aboutrika and those other big and highly experienced players, they are not as strong a team as before.
“And I believe Pirates have a realistic chance to beat them. Even if the first leg had ended goalless, I would still fancy Pirates. They did very well at Orlando even when Ahly were throwing everything at them and I am sure that with good defensive discipline and great play on the break they will be victorious.”
While he lamented the absence through injury of captain Oupa Manyisa, De Sa says Eric Tinkler has enough strength in depth to put out a formidable team onto the pitch.
“It’s a pity Oupa won’t be there because he is a phenomenal player. But Pirates can still play with flair and arrogance to go at Ahly, who are not used to having teams run at them. They don’t like to be harassed.”
Pirates, meanwhile, must brace themselves for some harassment by the crowd, the news from Egypt that the match will be played behind closed doors notwithstanding.
– THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT