Posted in News on May 18, 2007.
A win on Sunday will be enough to see Chiefs who are the defending champions qualify for next season's SAA Supa8 Competition.
Chiefs defender Patrick Mayo is of the opinion that from this point onwards it is up to the Amakhosi to ensure that they finish off in the top half of the league standings. The with last Sunday away at Maritzburg United and as a result of Jomo Cosmos and Mamelodi Sundowns playing to a scoreless draw in midweek, has boosted The Amakhosi’s chances of a top eight finish.
Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com on Friday morning the former Bafana Bafana star believes that Chiefs have a tough assignment against Silver Stars on Sunday, the Amakhosi are intending to close off the season in style when they meet up with Stars on Sunday.
As Mayo added “Silver Stars are looking to win the game as a win could help them qualify for the African Champions league, so we are aware that they will not want to slip up and will play their strongest possible team”.
Taking three points off Stars in Tshwane is a challenge Mayo feels he and his team mates are up to “we came back strongly against Maritzburg last weekend, I feel we have over come our poor run of results that we experienced in April and our strength and hunger to want to defend our Supa8 crown will see us through to victory on Sunday”.
While Chiefs have taken it down to the wire on Sunday in their bid to qualify for the Supa8 competition, Mayo explains that it is a position The Amakhosi should never have been in. When he said “cutting qualification for the Supa8 down to the wire is exciting for the fans and makes good television viewing, in truth we should never have had to be worrying about this on the last day of the season. We did have the opportunity to have sealed a top eight spot a few weeks ago, we were unable to take advantage for that and we know have to fight a battle right to the last”.
As Chiefs get ready for their final game of the campaign they will need all the support they can get, Mayo says that from his experience having the fans behind them is a thought that has not even crossed his mind. “I can not stress enough the importance of Sunday’s game when we play in such crucial games it is important for us to do so knowing that we will have a capacity crowd backing us on Sunday. Through my time at Chiefs the fans have always come out in large numbers and gotten behind us whenever we were staring down the barrel, I can confidently say that the fan factor will help us get the points we need on Sunday”.
With just a few hours remaining of the 2006 – 2007 season Mayo and the rest of the Chiefs team have been hard at the training ground all week long and are leaving nothing to chance and will have to play the game of their live on Sunday against Stars in order to confirm their place in next seasons SAA Supa8 competition.
Fans intending going to the game are urged to purchase their tickets at any Computicket outlet or Shoprite Checkers Store around the country, as ticket sales for the game have been swift and a large crowd is expected at Loftus on Sunday afternoon for the 15h00 kickoff.