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Stellenbosch Football Club advanced to the semi-finals of the 2024 Nedbank Cup on Saturday (13 April), following a resounding 4-0 win over SuperSport United at the Danie Craven Stadium.
The Maroons emerged victorious from the encounter thanks to goals by Anicet Oura, Devin Titus, Andre de Jong, and last season’s Nedbank Cup player of the tournament, Iqraam Rayners, to book their spot in the last four.
There they will take on formidable opponents in the form of Mamelodi Sundowns, who knocked out Second Division side University of Pretoria to advance to the next round of South Africa’s premier cup competition.
Steve Barker, Stellenbosch FC head coach, said his charges are often not given enough credit, even when they record convincing victories over strong opposition.
“They’ve gone 21 games unbeaten now with 16 wins. We’ve scored 40 goals and conceded 10, so they deserve to be in another semi-final, the fourth semi-final in a row, so I’m really, really proud,” he said after the match.
“This was one of the games since I’ve been at this football club that I can look back and say this team has matured; they’ve grown and developed. We didn’t just show fighting quality, but also quality with the ball. Some of the play and some of the goals we created, and some of the goals we could have scored, left me in awe with the quality that I saw.”
Saturday’s victory has kept Stellenbosch in contention to record a cup double this season – having already won the Carling Knockout Cup – but the coach insists his side is only focusing on the next game on the calendar.
“We can only take it one game at a time at this stage. We’ve got a lot of ambition, but there is still a lot to play for in the league as well, with eight league matches and 24 points on the line,” Barker pointed out.
“[This] week we are away to Sekhukhune United, followed by a game in Mbombela against TS Galaxy. Those are two really tough away games, against two teams in really good form.”
For the Nedbank Cup semi-final, though, both teams will head into the tie on good form, with Stellies on a particularly impressive streak.
The encounter between Stellenbosch and Sundowns is set to take place the first weekend of May, with the venue, and ticketing details to be announced soon.
