CAF Champions League: African Stars coach Güther backs team to challenge Orlando Pirates

African Stars coach Gerald Güther says his side must show confidence and avoid intimidation as they prepare for a decisive CAF Champions League clash against Orlando Pirates.

The Namibian club have been preparing in South Africa for Friday’s second-leg encounter, knowing they must overturn a 1-0 deficit to keep their continental campaign alive.

Despite the challenge posed by the Soweto giants, Güther believes his players have the ability to compete if they remain disciplined and execute their game plan.

“We have to come in here with confidence. We can’t walk in here and be intimidated by the opponent,” Güther told journalists.

“We do respect them 100 per cent, but we can’t come in here and show any type of fear.”

The African Stars coach acknowledged Pirates’ quality, describing them as a well-organised and well-trained team, but insisted his own side had also worked hard in preparation for the encounter.

“They are an extremely well-organised and trained team. We also train very hard. We work a lot on our play, how we play, how we set up,” he said.

“So I do fancy our chances because we have to come out here and keep everything on the field.”

Güther also highlighted concentration as a key area his players must improve after the first-leg defeat, stressing that they cannot afford lapses against opponents of Pirates’ calibre.

“The lessons from the first game, definitely, our level of concentration on the field,” he added.

“We know that we are playing a big team and we need to be sharp during that period to make sure that our concentration is at the top form.”

Despite the narrow first-leg loss, Güther believes the performance showed that African Stars can compete with the South African side.

“Lessons that we’ve learned is that we are a team that is capable of really competing, and I feel confident that we can bring this here on Friday night,” he said.

“We just have to be sharp and concentrate during the 90 minutes and see where this will take us.”

African Stars must deliver an improved performance in the return leg if they are to overturn the deficit and advance in the CAF Champions League.