Tapelo Xoki will walk out of the tunnel at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday evening carrying the weight of having to change Orlando Pirates’ fortunes against their MTN8 final opponents Mamelodi Sundowns.
Sundowns have turned the Pirates challenge into a one-way street winning the past three ties between the two clubs without conceding.
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The Brazilians have only lost once in the last 11 meetings between the two clubs, and such has been their dominance that they have won eight of those games.
Yet for Xoki, who has led Pirates this season, this is no discouragement.
"We are looking forward to the final on Saturday with a positive mindset, positive spirit, and the preparation have been great," states Xoki.
"The guys are pushing, and everyone is looking positive.
"It is a huge one for us, a big one and we have a chance to win another silverware so we will take that chance," says Xoki.
While Pirates have only won once in the last 11, the significance of that victory is what giving them reason to believe.
Pirates were 3-0 winners on their way to lifting the MTN8 last season.
"It is always a factor that says we can do that.
"We know that we have not done well against them in the league recently, but we have positives when we look at the games.
"So, we are going to this one with all the positives that we have knowing very well that we can beat them. ‘
"The nice part about this one is that it is a knockout game, and we know what it takes to play a knockout game.
"So, we will try and do our level best as we know how to play knockout games.
"This is our third final in a row, so we have to make sure that we use the experience that we have in the two finals that we played," says Xoki.
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