Mninawa Ntloko
22 July 2008
Johannesburg — ORLANDO Pirates are bracing themselves for a Manchester United backlash when the Bucs face the European and English champions in the second match of the Vodacom Challenge at Durban's Kings Park Stadium tonight.
The much-revered United were given a fright by Kaizer Chiefs during a 1-1 draw in the opening match of the annual tournament on Saturday and Pirates defender Lehlohonolo Seema said they expected the English visitors to attempt to reassert themselves as a feared force tonight.
"We expect them to come at us from the opening minute after they could only manage a draw against Chiefs," Seema said yesterday.
"We expect fireworks and they are going to throw everything at us. I am sure they want to win this one but we are ready for them. They do not scare us."
United coach Alex Ferguson admitted that his charges were given an unexpectedly fierce workout by Chiefs and, perhaps bracing himself for more of the same against Pirates, the Scotsman has already indicated that he will effect changes tonight.
England international Rio Ferdinand is expected to return from injury and stabilise a camp that was rocked by tragedy following the death of defender Wes Brown's pregnant half- sister at the weekend.
Ferguson will also hope for a much more improved showing from temperamental striker Wayne Rooney, who spent most of Saturday's draw with Chiefs sulking.
Veteran Ryan Giggs said while the Vodacom Challenge rules guaranteed the English club a place in Saturday's final at Loftus, United still wanted to win these preliminary matches against both Chiefs and Pirates.
"Winning is still important," Giggs told United's MUTV.
"We didn't win the tournament last time we were here in 2006. Besides, you want to get into the habit of winning games as soon as possible."
Seema and his team-mates will be desperate to erase memories of that last showing against United after the English club handed a shockingly out-of-sorts Bucs an embarrassing 4-0 thumping at the selfsame Kings Park in July 2006.
Seema, in particular, should be desperate to forget that match in a hurry as he managed to beat his own goalkeeper -- Francis Chansa -- to complete the nightmare for Pirates.
The Pirates defender said while new coach Ruud Krol was continuing to experiment with possible combinations, the Bucs were slowly edging closer to becoming a competitive unit.
Boosted by the arrival of Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs, Benson Mhlongo, Thulasizwe Mbuyane, Thembekile Kanono and Lebogang Mothibantwa, many players in the Bucs camp will be determined to impress their new Dutch coach tonight.
Seema said all the players were available for selection and had been doing their utmost to convince Krol in training over the past few days.
"This is a big stage and everybody wants to play in a game against Manchester United. Obviously we will give them the respect they deserve but as I said, we are going to compete. We are going to play our normal game; we will not pressure ourselves into trying to beat them."
After tonight's encounter, Chiefs and Pirates square off in Port Elizabeth on Thursday in a game to establish which side faces United in the final.
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