Barker Urges Fairness In The MTN8 Final

Stellenbosch coach Steve Barker has revealed that their upcoming MTN8 final against Orlando Pirates won’t be about redemption, instead voicing his desire for fair play.

The Cape Winelands-based defeated Sekhukhune United by 3-1 on aggregate of the two-legged semi-final at New Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday to book their spot in the final.

Stellies will meet Pirates in the final of this tournament for the second time, following Pirates’ controversial 3-1 victory in their last encounter.

Barker has emphasized that it’s every coach and player’s dream to play in as many finals as they can, and further expressed that he hopes the outcome of the game won’t be decided by controversial moments.

“I think as coaches and as football players you want to play in finals as many as you can and you want to win as many trophies as you can, I think,” said Barker.

“As a player, to have a legacy and leave a legacy and want to be able to show their grandchildren and children the medals and trophies. I think that is the most important part of why football players put in the effort every day and train hard, and have dreams and ambitions.

“We’ve got a massive ambition to lift trophies, and the MTN8 is not one game away from achieving that. So it’s not about redemption, it’s not about anything. Pirates have changed players, it’s a new coach, it’s a new game. All I hope is that the game doesn’t end up being decided by a controversial moment either way for either team, and it’s just a fair contest.

“But yeah, they are obviously a good team, they showed mid-week how good they are when they dominate us for the first 20,25 minutes. So a lot of lessons for us to learn from that, but we’ll only concentrate on that after the following week. We have got some league matches in between, as close as Tuesday already.

“So we need to get back to Cape Town, regenerate and get ourselves up and running in the league, and then obviously Sundowns the following week, and then we will start preparing for the final,” Barker added.

Meanwhile, Stellies will now shift their focus to the league game against Marumo Gallants at Danie Craven Stadium on Tuesday.