Kaze challenges Sekhukhune United to find a way past Orlando Pirates in MTN8 semi-final

Cedric Kaze says Sekhukhune United must produce their best performance of the season when they begin an intense week against Orlando Pirates in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final on Saturday.

The match will be played at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium and is the first of three meetings between the teams in the space of seven days. The clubs will then face each other in a Betway Premiership fixture before contesting the second leg of the cup tie.

Orlando Pirates are aiming to win the MTN8 for a fifth consecutive season, giving Sekhukhune United a formidable challenge as they attempt to gain an advantage in the opening match.

Kaze, the former Kaizer Chiefs coach, accepts the scale of the task but says his side are preparing to compete rather than simply contain the holders.

“It’s a very big week for us, playing the same team three times,” Kaze said. “We know how big is the mountain we need to climb, but we are preparing ourselves and want to compete.

“Starting on Saturday, for the first leg we need to be our best. We need to show our intentions, we need to have our mind and our plan clear.”

The Sekhukhune United coach is looking for his players to combine the strongest elements of several recent performances. He highlighted the way they began matches against Kaizer Chiefs and Durban City, alongside their defensive and attacking qualities in the first half against Polokwane City.

“I would say if I have to combine my best, I would say my first half against Chiefs, my first half against Durban City combined with my best defensive and offensive elements from the first half against Polokwane City,” he said. “We need to find the right balance between how we want to attack and how we want to defend.”

That balance will be particularly important during a sequence of fixtures in which the two sides will have little time to adjust before meeting again. The opening leg offers Sekhukhune United the chance to establish momentum, although Pirates’ pursuit of another MTN8 triumph underlines the difficulty of the assignment.

Kaze did not disclose whether his team would adopt an attacking approach from the start, preferring to keep his plans private until the match begins.

“I wouldn’t give you my approach for Saturday because probably I will be selling my secrets earlier on,” he said. “But let’s just say that I have seen how the other teams dealt with them without success. Let me just say that I want to go a different way.”