Chippa United will be going into their Nedbank Cup quarterfinal fixture against Bidvest Wits as the underdogs, coach Clinton Larsen said.
The Port Elizabeth team beat National First Division side Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila 2-0 in the last 16 of the competition to proceed to the next round of the cup and were drawn to play Wits last week.
The date and venue have yet to be announced.
This will be the second time Larsen is playing Wits in a cup competition in 2019.
“When I was at Golden Arrows we drew against them [Wits] in the Telkom Cup earlier this year and we beat them,” Larsen said.
“We have been drawn against them again now that I am with Chippa.
“At this stage of the quarterfinal or semifinals, absolutely anything is possible. If you want to pick up the cup at the end of the competition, you have to beat anybody in your way.
“We have beaten [Mamelodi] Sundowns and we want to try and beat Wits and hopefully get a home draw for the semifinal but it’s all to play for.
“I think whether you are playing Cape Ubuntu United or TS Galaxy, there are no easy games.
“I think the pressure is more on the teams who play the National First Division and whoever plays against them in the semis will be under even more pressure.
“But for us we will go into this game as the underdogs, like we usually do against the big five, and that takes a lot of pressure off us.
“Hopefully, the boys will take advantage of that,” the coach said.
The Wits game will be Chippa’s first away draw after having the luxury of playing their previous two competition fixtures at home.
Larsen said he would have been pleased with another home game.
“We have imposed ourselves on whichever opponent we have played, including Sundowns.
“We were hoping for a home draw, we didn’t get that but this league is very unpredictable and we want to prove that by getting a positive result against Wits,” he said.
Chippa’s next fixture will be on Sunday against SuperSport United in a league game at East London’s Sisa Dukashe Stadium.