Young Stars ready to take on the road to glory

Mpumalanga Black Aces is the only successful team in the province to have ever participated in this competition.

Despite losing 1-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns in the final of the Nedbank Cup in 2008, Aces have actually lifted this trophy back in 1993 when it was still known as the Bob Save Super Bowl Cup.

On Saturday, another local team, Phiva Stars, will attempt to achieve what many soccer pundits have labeled as an impossible dream given.

The home team said they would not be intimidated and might not command great respect now but vowed that after this fixture everyone would know who they were.

“For us, reaching the Nedbank Cup Last 32 has revitalised the team, bringing us together as a squad and the guys are fired up for the competition.

“We want a PSL team at the KaMhlushwa Stadium, that would be a best possible outcome for us and we then want to beat them to make the country sit up and take notice of the talent we have at this club and in this province.

“Everything is in place. The boys are both mentally and physically ready for this clash,” said Stars’ CEO Nicholas Siboza.

He also mentioned that tickets for this clash are also available at Computicket and at outlets mentioned last week.

Kick off is 15:00. Even though the Nkomazi- based soccer giants will be making their first ever appearance in this competition, they are well on track to rewrite the history books.

The current format sees the 16 Premier Soccer League clubs, eight National First Division teams, as well as eight teams from the amateur ranks enter the main draw of 32 teams. The PSL teams enter the main draw automatically, while the NFD clubs need to play a single qualifier against other NFD clubs. The amateur teams go through a series of qualifiers to enter the main draw.