“We believe that as a team we can get a positive result,” Kaizer Chiefs striker Bernard Parker comments ahead of the second leg of the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League encounter against Botswana’s Township Rollers on Saturday afternoon (kick-off at 15:00).

Amakhosi beat Rollers 2-1 at home. “At the last game,” reflects Parker, “when they settled their initial nervousness, they thought they could win it. It gave them confidence. However, we are an experienced team and we definitely want to advance to the next round. We learnt a lot from last year’s Champions League journey. We will be ready come Saturday.”

The striker has played before at Botswana’s National Stadium, but that was a long time ago, when he was still with South Africa’s Under-23s.

“It’s a small stadium,” Parker says, “but the people love their soccer in Botswana. That’s why I expect a full house.”

The striker found it not easy to find his rhythm after the Africa Cup of Nations. “It was disappointing from a psychological point of view that I didn’t get more game time with Bafana in Equatorial Guinea.”

“On the other hand, it made me miss club football more than ever. Since I am back, I feel that, game by game, I am getting stronger.”

Parker was also happy about the 4-0 win over Edu Sports in the Nedbank Cup 32 last weekend: “Chiefs had five players at the Afcon. This resulted in the team being split with so many of us in Equatorial Guinea. However, we are now all back together again. Last weekend’s result was a good morale booster. Besides that, we now have a full week to train together. The consequence of this will be getting results.”