by Benjamin Nyirenda
Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns face off in what can be called the final before the final in the MTN8 Semi-finals first leg on Saturday. The Orlando Stadium Stadium will play hosts to the much anticipated match scheduled to kick-0ff at 15:30pm.
Players on both camps are in preparation mode and will be counting on each other to win the match. one player who knows what is at stake is Orland Pirates defender, Tapelo Xoki, who has shared his views on the upcoming fixture.
Speaking on Wednesday in during the club’s press conference in Johannesburg, Xoki said that his side is on a hunt for a win. He highlighted the importance of team work, saying that soccer was not like Golf, which is played by a single person on the field, but a team sport.
Asked more about his individual performance at Pirates, Xoki said, “Fortunately this is not golf, this is football and we play as a team. If it was golf I could have answered on my individual performance but as a team we sometimes informally talk about it and how if the strikers score we will keep a clean sheet. But that’s just talk. In true sense we defend as a team and attack as a team. We don’t leave one job to a certain department and another to a different department, so just likewise on Saturday we will organise ourselves according to how the coach and the technical team wants us to play to stop Sundowns as a team, ” he said.
Asked on how they plan to stop Sundowns’ Striker Peter Shalulile, the former AmaZulu FC defender said that they don’t focus on one player because he can’t play alone.
” We look at the whole team, he doesn’t play alone. He plays with other players around him who supply him and we have also to look at closing them down because if we don’t close them then he will get the supply and he can score. But if we work as a team and close him down we can’t do that as defenders alone. We need other departments to work with us and stop the supply then our job is done. But to do that we have to work as a team, ” Xoki concluded.