1 month ago
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Following their impressive 3-1 victory over TS Galaxy in the MTN8 quarterfinal at Danie Craven Stadium on Sunday, Stellenbosch coach Steve Barker feels it has set his side up nicely for their CAF Confederation Cup competition.
The Cape Winelands side now shifts their focus to their continental competition against Nsingizini Hotspurs from Eswatini, where they will make their debut in the Confederation Cup.
They will play the first leg at Moses Mabhida Stadium, before hosting them at Athlone Stadium a week later for the return leg.
Barker said their victory against Galaxy, where Jayden Adams, Andre de Jong and Fawaaz Basadien scored for them, was also a test of how they are at the moment.
Kamogelo Sebelebele opened the scoring for the visitors on 18 minutes but it was not enough to help his side.
“It is good to see where we are. Obviously, with a lot of noise and rumours and all that flying around, it was ensuring we get on the field, play out our game, get through it with possibly good results, which we have now,” Barker told the media after the match.
“Hopefully, with the positive results we have it will set us up nicely now to go to the CAF Confederation Cup game and looking forward to the semifinal at the end of the month.
“We would like to go to the group stages but one step at a time. I think we got a difficult opponent ahead. They have travelled to SA and played at Moses Mabhida, so they are serious about this. Hopefully, we can get into that stage.”
Barker is also optimistic about his squad for the season and said they were likely to add one or two new signings before the close of the transfer window
“Having the same core group from last season, combined with the return of Ibraheem Jabaar, is a significant boost. Although he didn’t feature against Galaxy, he has looked sharp and integrated well into the team,” he said.
“We feel that we are a team that can challenge for honours in the league and cup competitions, and that’s our intention to work as hard as we can and make sure that we retain our squad.”
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