The breakdown: Terrence Dzvukamanja breaks down his goal against Chiefs 👨🏫
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) September 26, 2023
Fascinating insight on a deadly finish 🔥 #DStvPrem pic.twitter.com/MRIVvkMj4b
Chippa United head coach Morgan Mammila has revealed the team's lofty ambitions to challenge for CAF football as they prepare to welcome SuperSport United to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Kick-off in this DStv Premiership clash is at 7.30pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)
Mammila registered his second win since returning to the helm in the off-season when the Chilli Boys beat Richards Bay 2-1 in Durban last Tuesday to move up to sixth in the DStv Premiership standings.
The Eastern Cape outfit got off to a slow start after going winless in their opening four matches and picking up just three points, but Mammila is dreaming big as he looks to push the likes of Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Matsatsantsa for a top-three finish this term.
He insists it's not enough to be fighting for a place in the top eight and believes Chippa have established themselves enough in the top flight to be rivalling the big four clubs.
"That's the target (finishing in the top three) and we dream big man. Leave this thing of fighting for the top eight. No! There's top four there, there's CAF Confederation Cup, and there's CAF Champions League," Mammila said.
"If we want to grow as a team, the brand of the team will go miles away if we play those kinds of competitions.
"We're just behind SuperSport [United] because it's [Kaizer] Chiefs, [Orlando] Pirates, [Mamelodi] Sundowns, SuperSport then it's Chippa. So, that's where we belong, this team belongs there."
SuperSport got their title challenge back on track with a 1-0 victory over Chiefs in Polokwane last Wednesday, having seen their unbeaten run in 2023-24 come to an end after a 3-0 loss to Golden Arrows prior to the international break.
The Pretoria giants trail league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns by eight points in third place with a game in hand and they have a chance to leapfrog Abafana Bes'thende into second spot by getting a positive result in Gqeberha.
Matsatsantsa head coach Gavin Hunt was pleased to see his players cope with the pressure against Amakhosi to come out on top and highlighted the importance of grinding out results in difficult situations.
"Obviously we were under a lot of pressure but I thought we handled it well. Sure they had a lot of balls across the face of my goal but I thought we stood our ground at times and we defended well," Hunt said.
"But that's what football is about, you grind away the results sometimes. We are obviously missing a few players so yeah we had to do what we had to do."
The breakdown: Terrence Dzvukamanja breaks down his goal against Chiefs 👨🏫
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) September 26, 2023
Fascinating insight on a deadly finish 🔥 #DStvPrem pic.twitter.com/MRIVvkMj4b
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chippa United
Elmo Kambindu: The 30-year-old Namibian striker made his first appearance of the campaign against the Natal Rich Boyz and repaid Mammila's faith in him by scoring a match-winning brace. Kambindu only featured 14 times for Chippa last term following his arrival from Costa do Sol in July 2022 and he'll be hoping to earn a regular place in the first team this season.
SuperSport United
Terrence Dzvukamanja: The 29-year-old Zimbabwean striker has settled in quickly at SuperSport since making the switch from Pirates in the off-season, scoring two goals in six league outings. Dzvukamanja broke the deadlock after just 68 seconds against Chiefs and was denied a second goal when Itumeleng Khune pulled off a fantastic save to keep out his header on 31 minutes.