Orlando Pirates head coach Ruud Krol will go with his tried and tested, experienced players when Bucs host Ajax Cape Town in their MTN8 quarterfinal clash at Ellis Park on Wednesday night.
Under the former Dutch captain, Bucs finished runners up to SuperSport United after a tremendous second round of the season which firmly established Krol and Bucs as championship material.
Said Krol: ”It took a while for the players to get used to my system of coaching when I joined Pirates at the start of last season. We started to gel in the last six months and, while I am happy with the new blood that has come into the squad, it will be the players that did all the hard work in the last six months that I will be looking to beat Ajax and get us into the semifinals.”
That means newcomers such as Dennis Masina, Gert Schalkwyk, Phenyo Mongala and Ndumiso Mabena are set to sit this one out.
Krol is still concerned that his four Bafana Bafana stars midfielders Teko Modise, Benson Mhlongo, striker Katlego Mashego and defender Innocent Mdledle are not fully fit but will be in his squad.
Krol’s Buccaneers scored a major psychological victory when they retained the Telkom Charity Cup, after defeating arch enemies Kaizer Chiefs on a penalty shootout in the semifinals and then defeated a new-look Platinum Stars also by penalties, in the rain-soaked Charity Cup final played at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium at the weekend.
”The fact that I fielded two teams in the two games was a major boost as it gave me the chance to watch some of the fringe players in a competitive match and give everyone much needed game time.”
Krol, now 12 months into the job of bringing back Bucs’ glory days, said he wanted a better start to the knockout competition, which carries a whopping R8 million for winner, than last season.
”We were knocked out in the first round last year by SuperSport United and this time I want to win it. But it will not be easy.
”There is a huge difference between a knockout competition and the league. In the league, a team has time to recover points dropped but a cup competition is a must win situation.”
Krol also said that Ajax are a different side to the one which faded badly in the last six months of last season.
”Ajax have a new coach in Muhsin Ertugral, for whom I have plenty of respect. They will be fired up to impress their new coach
and have proved to be difficult opponents for Pirates.”
Krol stressed that revenge for Bucs 2-1 defeat in last year’s Telkom Knockout final by the Urban Warriors is the furthest thing from his mind. — Sapa