Orlando Stadium to host MTN8 final
Moroka Swallows skipper Lefa Tsutsulupa believes his side will have no added advantage when they play the MTN8 final in Soweto on September 22.
The Premier Soccer League announced Orlando Stadium as the venue for the clash on Monday.
Swallows were drawn as the home side, although a neutral venue had to be chosen to accommodate both teams.
Despite being hosts, the Birds will only have the advantage of choosing their home strip, their choice of change room and training times ahead of the contest.
"There is no advantage whatsoever," Tsutsulupa said.
"I believe SuperSport deserve to be in the final because of the way they played their matches. They have been a solid team all these years.
"For us, we just need to go there and bring our A game and plan properly and play our best."
Swallows beat Mamelodi Sundowns 3-2 in their second-leg semifinal in Dobsonville two weeks ago to advance to the final, while United saw off Orlando Pirates 3-0 at Orlando Stadium.
With the allure of R8 million in prize money for the winners, Tsutsulupa said the Birds were looking forward to a tough encounter in their own backyard against a stuttering United outfit who have failed to carry their cup form into the Premiership campaign.
"As a club, we take each game as it comes," he said.
"We plan properly, we do our homework and the fact that we have a two-week break gives us that time to fine tune everything that we need to get right.
"Our defensive organisation has not been up to scratch. We have conceded goal and allowed teams to create chances against us so we need to be tight at the back."
Meanwhile, PSL general manager Derek Blackensee said the process of choosing the host stadium for the cup final was different to previous years in that clubs were consulted and questioned regarding where they would be willing to play should they reach the final.
"We sometimes make assumptions about what clubs would be prepared to do and what they would not be prepared to do," Blackensee said.
"You would think that a club would not want to play in a host city of their opponents, but we thought instead of us making that assumption, let's actually ask the clubs.
"We did a proper questionnaire for the clubs and the outcome was quite interesting – one of the clubs (SuperSport United) did say that they don't mind playing in the home city of the other club (Moroka Swallows).
"Everything brought us to one point, which is the Orlando Stadium."
