Golden Arrows are gunning for a double over Mamelodi Sundowns.
Abafana Bes’thende beat the Brazilians 3-2 in the PSL this past weekend at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium.
The two teams will meet again in the semi-finals of the Telkom Knockout at the same venue in two weeks’ time. Coach Steve Komphela is gleefully rubbing his hands in anticipation of the next encounter against his good friend Pitso Mosimane, and is hoping his team does as well as they did on Sunday.
“We went through Polokwane City twice and we came through. We went to SuperSport United twice and we came through. We have just played Sundowns and gone through and we are hoping that we will come through again in the second one. It won’t be easy because they wouldn’t want to lose against Golden Arrows twice. That’s a big test,” Komphela said.
Arrows beat Polokwane City 1-0 to advance to the last eight of the Tekom Knockout. A week later, Arrows defeated the same side 2-1 in the league. In the quarter-finals, they got the better of SuperSport and three days later they shared the spoils with the same opponents in the league.
While delighted at having beaten Sundowns on Sunday, Komphela acknowledged the fact that Mosimane did not play a full-strength team.
“There are quite a number of players that they (Sundowns) didn’t have. There were regulars who were not there. Your Themba Zwane was not there, Gaston Sirino was not there. Hlompo Kekana was not there. But again even without Zwane, Sirino and Kekana, the quality they have is there (for all to see). You can’t question the quality from Thapelo Morena. You can’t question the quality from Lyle Lakay. You can’t question Villa (Sibusiso Vilakazi). The game plan worked well. Are they going to bring the same when we meet in the Cup? A leopard never changes its spots. It will remain a leopard. So, we are going to apply the same work ethic,” he said.