Cape Town - Nigerian striker Etiosa Ighodaro will be spearheading Chippa United who, along with Polokwane City, will complete the Nedbank Cup last-32 round at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium Tuesday evening (kick-off 7.30pm).
Ighodaro has scored seven times for Chippa in the DStv Premiership and has been their standout attacking player this season. If he strikes form, Chippa will be well on their way to the last-16 round at the expense of the Motsepe Foundation Championship side.
Chippa were Nedbank Cup runners-up in 2021 (losing to Marumo Gallants). Last season they lost in the opening round when they were beaten by the second-tier University of Pretoria.
Chippa will, therefore, be wary of suffering the same fate for a second season in succession.
Last weekend, the Chilli Boys suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of Stellenbosch FC and coach Morgan Mammila was unhappy with the side’s schoolboy errors but believes they will put things right for their cup clash with Polokwane.
“This is childish (schoolboy errors), to be honest, but I think my boys will come back stronger. We will learn from these mistakes,” said Mammila.
“I think we could have done better. How do you dominate a game, especially in the second half, and in the last five minutes you start committing schoolboy errors?
“Once you see the centre-back and the ‘keeper making mistakes, it means there is something wrong; football is about 90 minutes. Just concentrate for the whole 90 minutes.
“It’s one of those games that we need to forget quickly so that we can look to the future.”
Second-tier Polokwane played in the Nedbank Cup in 2021, when they got as far as the last-16 before suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns.
They have performed strongly in the Motsepe Foundation Championship this season and are pushing hard for promotion back to the Premiership, though they dropped from the top spot last week when they were held 0-0 by Cape Town Spurs. This allowed Casric Stars to leapfrog them.
Rise and Shine coach Tincy Tema has admitted that their focus is on promotion rather than a cup run, but they will nonetheless hope to put on a strong show against top-flight opposition.
“The Nedbank Cup is not a priority for us,” said Tema.
“Our focus is getting back into the PSL but we will approach the match professionally. We will field a strong team for a continuation so that the players can gel well and get stronger ahead of our league matches.
“It is a night game and the gates will open early and we would like to see fans rallying behind the team.”
City's team is anchored by striker Puleng Marema and defender Bulelani Nikani.
Marema is Polokwane’s most dangerous and reliable forward, having netted five times in the league so far this season. The experienced 31-year-old will fancy his chances against Chippa’s defence.
Nikani is the rock of Polokwane’s defence and will look to keep things tight at the back and will be hoping that a clean sheet lays the platform for an upset.
IOL Sport