Stellenbosch ‘character’ in Confederation Cup win over Stade Malien impresses Barker

Herman Gibbs

Stellenbosch FC bravely ground out a convincing 2-0 victory over Stade Malien at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup in their maiden attempt.

It was a stellar achievement since the ebullient Cape Winelands outfit had played their third game away from home in a week.

Two of the matches were Confederation Cup Group B encounters played in a near-empty stadium at Loftus in Pretoria, some 1,500km from their Stellenbosch base, and they were unable to call on crowd support or home-ground advantage.

They were up against the Mali champions Stade Malien, an experienced club side who have played Champions League and Confederation Cup many times.

They are 27-time Premier League champions of Mali, and they won the Confederation Cup once.

Afterwards, Stellenbosch coach Steve Barker could not hide his delight as he emphasised the team had played their third game in a week, away from home (two at Loftus and one at FNB Stadium against Kaizer Chiefs).

Fawaaz Basadien opened the scoring with a 30th-minute penalty, and Jayden Adams added a second goal nine minutes later.

“I’m not complaining, but we won 2-0 today to reach the knockout stages of the Confed Cup. You know this is our third game in a week, and none of them in the Western Cape,” said Barker. “After these two Group B wins, we can look back at the week with great pride.

“Now we can go to Morocco next week with less stress.”

The Stade Malien clash was Stellenbosch’s penultimate Group B game, and they will finish the group phase in Morocco against RS Berkane, the Group B log leaders, on Sunday (9pm kick-off).

“We are excited about what lies ahead going into the knockout stages. It was always our aim to take each stage at a time, to get through the preliminary, and then into the group stage,” said Barker.

“We didn’t enjoy the best start with the two losses, but the team has shown great character, belief and trust in each other. We managed three wins on the trot. This is a credit to the effort the players have been putting in.”

At the end of last week’s Chiefs versus Stellenbosch game at the FNB Stadium, the AmaKhosi coach Nasreddine Nabi was seen chatting to Stellenbosch midfielder Adams.

At Sunday’s post-match presser, the media wasted no time to ask Barker if Chiefs were making a bid for Adams’ services.

“I am not going to confirm nor deny your question about (if) it was Adams’ last game for Stellenbosch. I can’t confirm anything, and I’m also not going to deny it,” said Barker.

“We are a club that plans well, a club that understands the business of football. We accept there are times when your best players are not always easy to hold on to.

“It therefore makes us extra committed and focused to ensure we are finding the talent there is to bring in, and ensure the club will continue to be competitive. If you look at the January window and the last three windows, I think we have done the best and have been good. I cannot see why this present window will be any different.”

Since there are no midweek Premiership matches, Stellenbosch can start preparing for the 22-hour flight to Morocco this week.

There are no direct flights from Cape Town, and Stellenbosch can brace themselves for yet another energy-sapping journey to North Africa.