/ 15 October 2008

Stars coach: It’s not the money, stupid

Platinum Stars assistant coach Cavin Johnson believes his players should set their sites on winning trophies, and forget about the money.

Stars take on Ajax Cape Town on Saturday in the first round of the R4,25-million first-prize Telkom Knockout Cup, a tournament the Tycoons won in 2006.

”It should be about the trophy, being the champions and playing good football. The players must want to see the trophy in the cabinet and medals in their hands … and not the cash,” Johnson said.

”A club like Sundowns can offer money as part of the motivation and although it is good in a way, we as coaches and players should be aiming at being called the winners of the Telkom Cup, and not be known for getting thousands or millions,” he said ahead of his team’s training session in Modderfontein on Wednesday morning.

Johnson said his players expected a tough encounter against his former club.

”We’ve won this trophy before and the players know what it’s like to be champions and they want it again. The motivation is there already,” he said.

In the inaugural competition, Stars beat Ajax 1-0 in the final.

Johnson said he expected a tough encounter as the Cape side had quality players.

”It’s not going to be easy against Ajax who have young hungry players and are known to cause upsets. Mabhuti Khanyeza and Sameegh Doutie have been excellent in attack for them so we have to keep an eye on them,” the former Ajax assistant coach noted.

”In defence, Eduardo [Ferreira] is one of the finest defenders in the country and Brett Evans has always been consistent at left-back. I rate him highly as well. We have our work cut out for us and beating a team like this is a highlight because they’re a quality team. We’ll be going all out for this one,” the former Westbury resident said confidently.

Kick off is at 8:15pm at the Athlone Stadium. – Sapa