Stellies aim to keep Confederation Cup run on track against the Black Stars

Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker says maintaining the momentum from their opening CAF Confederation Cup victory will be vital when they take on Singida Black Stars at the Amaan Stadium on Sunday (6pm kick-off).

Stellies seem to have found renewed energy in what has otherwise been a challenging campaign for Barker and his players. They will be aiming to build not only on last weekend’s 1–0 win over AS Otoho in the group stage opener, but also on their dramatic 2–1 comeback against Orbit College in the Betway Premiership earlier this week.

While their domestic form has been inconsistent, Stellenbosch have performed far better in continental competition. The Confederation Cup brings back positive memories—particularly last season’s impressive run to the semi-finals—and Barker hopes his squad can continue carrying that confidence forward.

The 57-year-old expects a demanding encounter but wants to secure a strong away result, especially with this being their final Confederation Cup fixture of the year.

“Still early in the group stages but obviously we got a good result in our opening match last week,” Barker said ahead of the match.

“The game on Sunday becomes important for us to keep the momentum after a good solid start, if we can follow that up with a positive result away from home it sets us up for the remainder of the group stages.

“We anticipate a tough match but we are prepared well and are ready to showcase the qualities we have as a team.”

Stellies head into the clash with some familiarity, returning to a country where they played Fadlu Davids’ Simba SC last season.

“It’s nice to be back in Zanzibar, we are familiar with the surroundings, the stadium and the teams have a great deal of support.”

Barker added that the challenges they have faced so far, both locally and on the continent, have helped the squad mature and learn how to better manage different situations on the pitch.

“We learned from last season that all matches are important and all of them have different types of pressures, but at the same time we have also learnt how to manage games from home and how to give ourselves the maximum opportunity to get maximum points.

“The experience that we got playing against teams like Zamalek and Simba SC taught us a lot in a short space of time. I would like to congratulate Singida for making it to this stage, any team that gets to the group stages deserves to be there.”

Competing in the group stages for the first time, Singida lost their opener 2–0 to CR Belouizdad, but Barker has warned against taking them lightly—especially considering Stellies’ own underdog run last season.

“They are a good team with good individual players from all over the continent, they will be ready and up for the game, and it’s important for us to match and even better that in terms of our desire to get a positive result, we will have to play to our best to get a result because they are a good team.”