‘It will be survival of the fittest’ – Kerr

Baroka FC will take on Bloemfontein Celtic in the Nedbank Cup semifinals at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and coach Dylan Kerr admits that it might be physical condition that wins the day rather than tactics.

After five months on the sidelines due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the match heralds the return of domestic football and in the coming weeks it will be who can hit the ground running that will prevail, as he told the South African Football Journalists Association.

Along with Bloemfontein Celtic, you will be the first club back in action after five months on the sidelines. Just how prepared will you be?

After we got the few players who had tested positive for Covid-19 back last week, we have had a full squad training. We have got one little niggling injury that hopefully will be right for Saturday’s game. But it has been difficult for the players, there is this eagerness to get back and some guys have overdone things in training and injured themselves by trying to do too much. The reality is that we are at the six-week stage of pre-season, in ordinary circumstances, but we have only trained for three. And only as a group for one. So it is not ideal.

Just what do you expect from your team on Saturday after so long out?

You cannot have five months without kicking a football and then expect to come back to training and play to the level I would be happy with, and that my chairman would be happy with. It is not realistic. We have seen in the EPL [English Premier League], LaLiga and in Italy, a lot of top players have been missing through injury because of a lack of preparation. I am not ready yet, I am not happy playing first game on Saturday knowing I should have three weeks more to get my team into the shape physically and mentality to play these games. It is going to be who can survive the fittest in the 90 minutes. That is what is going to win the game. You have to have a bit of heart and be tough upstairs [mentally].

I guess it becomes less tactical in these games as they come thick and fast, and more about worrying about your own shape and plans rather than the opposition with so little time to prepare.

Exactly, when you have the ball, make sure you don’t give it away because the last thing you want to do is be chasing. We have prepared these players as well as we can. We have to make sure we manage it right though, it is all about game management and player management. We have had to add two or three young boys into the squad [to add numbers], but we have added players that we feel can make a difference. But we are playing for our lives, we are playing for out status in the PSL [Absa Premiership]. There should be no excuse with the players’ mentality. The players all know what is at stake in the league and in the [Nedbank Cup] semifinal. I have got to make sure I can man-manage my players as best I can.

If you win Saturday’s Nedbank Cup semifinal, that gives your players something to look forward to in the final on September 8, which would surely also help with their league campaign?

This is the best cup competition in African football. If we make the final, I think we will be guaranteed a place in the CAF Confederation Cup, if Sundowns make the final too. It will set the tempo of the next six [league] games. If we do make the cup final and win, it is a legacy you leave, it is history, something your kids and your grandkids will always have something to remember. You will always be a part of football history. Baroka have been to two semifinals before, and lost, but hopefully we can make it third time lucky. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some players. The chairman might give a financial incentive to them, but that shouldn’t be what they are looking for. Something like 80 per cent of my players might never make a cup final again. So this is a huge opportunity.

With a new coach in John Maduka and five months out, I guess it is difficult to know what Celtic are going to do at the weekend …

You are right, Celtic have a new coach, and when a new coach comes in, he changes the team and the tactics. We won’t know what he is going to do. So that being the case, it is about us as Baroka FC and what we do. That means when the opposition has the ball, don’t give them space and when we have the ball, don’t give it away because, like said earlier, fitness-wise the last thing you want to do is be chasing.