Cosafa Cup means nothing to me – Tinkler
Maritzburg United coach Eric Tinkler says retaining their Absa Premiership status is more important to him than his players participating in the Cosafa Cup.
Eric Tinkler, coach of SuperSport United during the 2017 Caf Confederations Cup Final Press Conference at Lucas Moripe Stadium. (Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
As a result, Tinkler does not want Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter to call up his players for the upcoming tournament, saying as they need to prepare for the relegation/promotional playoffs where they will play against National First Division sides Royal Eagles and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila.
United survived automatic relegation by playing to a 1-1 draw with Baroka FC in their last game of the season.
“The Cosafa Cup, to me, means nothing. Those requests are going to fall on deaf ears. If any of our players are called for the Cosafa Cup, I am going to say ‘NO’,” Tinkler told IOL.
Tinkler added that his charges are up for the tough challenge of retaining their Premiership status.
“Playing NFD teams is a different ballgame, you’ve got to have a different mind-set. My fear is that you start lowering your level, and you can’t afford to. You’ve got to maintain your professional standards, your PSL standards. If you can do that, you can best the NFD teams. But if you drop your level of the game, then you’re going to come unstuck.
“Our first game is at home against Royals, then we make the trip to Venda. Those two games are very important. What we get out of them at home and away is extremely important.
“It is about our survival. It’s a massive task. The players are staying here for another month when they should be going on a break. But I prepared them for this, so mentally they are ready.”
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