JOHANNESBURG - SuperSport United striker Jeremy Brockie has issued a strong warning to TP Mazembe: park the bus at your own peril.
Matsatsantsa a Pitori need to take the game to the Ravens on Saturday night in the second leg of the Caf Confederation Cup final as they trail 2-1 after the first leg in Lubumbashi. A draw will see Mazembe retain the trophy they won last year while a 1-0 win for Matsatsantsa will give them their first continental title.
“We need to be patient,” Brockie said. “We are in a very good position with the away goal. I don’t know what their mind-set is, do they come in the country and try to get an away goal which will make them to open up a little or do they sit back and defend to protect their lead?
"If they sit back, that will allow the attacking talent we have in this side to come at them and thrive. I think that we are in a very good position. We just need to be patient and play the game smartly.
"In the first 30 minutes of the away leg we dominated. We should have taken one of the chances that we got. That came and bit us at the end. But things will be different this time around. We have good attacking players. You don’t keep us quiet for two games in a row.”
SuperSport are a free-scoring team in this competition. They finished with more goals than Mazembe in the group stage. But the Ravens’ superior experience in these type of competitions pushed them to finish ahead of SuperSport in their group.
Matsatsantsa will look to make the most of their home advantage on Saturday. Fans wearing blue will enter the stadium for free in a bid to fill Lucas Moripe Stadium to create an intimidating atmosphere like the one SuperSport faced at Stade TP Mazembe in the first leg. The club also opted to stage the game at night against a team that’s used to playing during the day.
Request to all SA football fans, please come support @SuperSportFC for a few hours on Saturday night!! FREE ENTRY - WEAR BLUE!! ⚽️⚽️⚽️
— Jeremy Brockie (@JRBrockie) November 21, 2017
“I think that will help us,” Brockie said. “It’s going to be much cooler than it was on the weekend. The altitude also comes into play. I think that we haven’t taken advantage of that during the competition.
"Teams that come here to South Africa tend to fade away in the last 20 minutes and we don’t put the foot down to try and finish the game off. We have to make sure that we remain in the game, take our chances when we get them and see if that’s enough.”