SuperSport United captain Dean Furman believes that recent success over Orlando Pirates could help them pass the Soweto giants in the MTN8.
After a couple of disappointing seasons, Milutin Sredojevic helped the Buccaneers restore some pride to their famous jersey with a second-place finish in the Absa Premiership, playing some attractive football along the way.
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Matsatsantsa, in contrast, had a brilliant start to last season. Under Eric Tinkler, SuperSport won the 2017 MTN8 and went on a run all the way to the Caf Confederations Cup final.
However, they lost and after the tolls of a gruelling run in a continental competition began to show, Tinkler lost his job.
Kaitano Tembo stepped up from his assistant role to lead the team to safety and they eventually ended up in the top eight after Ajax Cape Town were docked points in the Tendai Ndoro case.
SuperSport finished seventh and will face Pirates on Saturday, 11 August.
Speaking to the media at the MTN8 launch event, Furman praised Pirates but also said his side fear no team as they look to match their lofty ambitions.
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‘Pirates are a good side. They obviously had a very good season last year. They were close to winning the title… and I think they have made a number of good signings.
‘They are going to be strong. Of course they are going to want to be bringing back the good times with silverware to the club.
‘We know it is going to be a tough game, but from our side of things, we have had some great success over Pirates in the last few years and we would be looking to do the same on Saturday night.
‘It’s a game that they are probably the favourites, so it allows us to go in there with a little bit less pressure and we can go out there and express ourselves. That is certainly the approach that we will be taking in the game.’
When asked if they see themselves as underdogs, Furman responded, ‘We don’t see ourselves as underdogs although people may call us underdogs.
‘For us, we have huge expectations,’ concluded the SuperSport United captain.