CAPE TOWN – CEO of SuperSport United Stan Matthews says the late Senzo Meyiwa’s heroics against TP Mazembe should serve as inspiration in CAF Confederation Cup final. On their way to making it to the final of the CAF Champions League in 2013, Pirates had to find their way past TP Mazembe who are SuperSport’s opponents, four years later, in the two-legged 2017 CAF Confederation Cup final, in order to make it through to the final group phase.
Pirates has taken a 3-1 first leg into away leg against Mazembe, but had found themselves up against it in the DRC. They encountered a hostile home crowd as well as some questionable match officiating.
A heroic performance by Meyiwa, including two penalty saves, meant that Mazembe’s 1-0 win on the day was not enough to stop the Sea Robbers from advancing on aggregate.
Matthews now has hopes that his men can emulate Meyiwa’s braver, although he remains wary of biased officiating. “Hopefully, we will get a reasonable official. My mind goes back to Orlando Pirates playing against TP Mazembe and the late Senzo pulling off multiple penalty saves,” he said.
“One just needs to see the final is officiated in a fair and proper way. Strong officiating is good, fair officiating is better and that’s what we want, then I think we can tradeblows with Mazembe,” Matthews added.
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