After Mamelodi Sundowns sealed their place in the knockout stage of the CAF Champions League, the spotlight shifts to Orlando Pirates who are the country’s hopefuls in the CAF Confederation Cup.
The Buccaneers host Nigeria powerhouse Enyimba FC at the Orlando Stadium on Wednesday night.
This comes just hours after Sundowns completed a double with a 1-0 win over TP Mazembe of the Republic of Congo in Pretoria on Tuesday night to qualify for the last eight with two games to spare. Kaizer Chiefs yielded a goalless stalemate against Petro de Luanda in Angola, on the same evening.
READ: Little-heralded PSL top performers
Pirates, who were the runners-up in the second tier competition in 2015, are hoping to collect their first maximum points in the group stage following a goalless draw against ES Sétif of Algeria in their opening pool match at a neutral Ghana a week ago.
Enyimba lead Group A after beating Libyan side Al-Ahly 2-1.
“We’ve analysed Enyimba in detail – their playing style, their structure and in terms of profiling their players in each position – they have two to three players in each position. So really we’ve got to be prepared for anything come Wednesday,” noted Pirates assistant coach Fadlu Davids.
“It’s a different dynamic to our last game in Ghana with the pitch really hard under a spongy thick grass not cut. Now we come to our home game at Orlando Stadium which we are familiar with, where can implement our style of play.
“We want three points and that’s what we are fighting for ... we are not even thinking twice about any other results. We’re going for the win regardless of the opponent who come to Orlando Stadium – our target is clear,” said Davids.
Pirates’ group rivals Al-Ahly and ES Sétif face off in another Group A fixture, also scheduled for Wednesday.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
