Roger de Sa insists he does not have to ‘psych up’ his players for the Telkom Knockout Final, despite the fact that Orlando Pirates have already lost two cup finals this season.

The Buccaneers are up against Platinum Stars at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday night, in a repeat of the MTN8 Final, which was won by Dikwena.

Pirates also came out second best in the CAF Champions League Final, which was won by Egyptian super club Al Ahly.

The TKO will be in their third cup final in four months.

So faced with two recent cup final defeats, how do you psyche up your players? De Sa says it should not be necessary.

“You know what, if you have to psyche up a player for a cup final then that guy shouldn’t be playing,” the coach responds.

“For players, this is their job; this is what they want to be doing, and you can see that every day at training.

“What I have especially noticed at Pirates is that there is a great hunger for success and determination to succeed and that is why they won trebles in the past.

“I see it in them in that they always give it their best, although the reality is that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. The players themselves are always well motivated.

“Actually, you shouldn’t have to motivate anybody to play in a cup final.”

This is De Sa’s second Telkom Knockout final in three years, after his former team Bidvest Wits was floored by the team he is now in charge of two years ago.

The former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper notes that despite the weekend loss against Bloemfontein Celtic there has been a lift in spirits at training this week – a rare week in which Bucs have seven days to prepare for a match.

“The mood is good and the mindset is good. I think I definitely saw an improvement at training yesterday because we didn’t play midweek.

“It is not every week that we get a full week of training so the guys have rested a bit and we have got them to recover as well. There was a little bit of a spring in their step yesterday and they are revitalised and freshened up.

“The guys are very happy to be in another cup final and to have another opportunity to win something,” he adds.

Pirates will be minus the injured duo of Siyabonga Sangweni and Patrick Phungwayo, while Rooi Mahamutsa still needs to be assessed, although he has been back at training.
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