Thinasonke Mbuli urges UWC players to remain grounded

The students will face Gaborone United of Botswana in the tournament decider after defeating Young Buffaloes 6-0 in the last four of the competition in Malawi on Thursday. 

UWC and United face off in a winner-takes-all clash at 14:00 on Saturday afternoon, with a spot in the continental championship final tournament on the line, and Mbuli says it’s time for calm heads.

"My talk with them since qualifying for the semis, because we had two days off, was that I would give them a few hours to celebrate and then calm down, go to training and prepare for the next game," said Mbuli.

"We're preparing for a game that is completely different to the others we've played here because Gaborone United can play, so it's not yet done.

"We must try by all means to remain humble and grounded because, if we get too excited, we might lose the focus, and our approach needs to be the same.

"We can't yet celebrate and say, because we won 6-0 in the semi-final, it's going to be easy in the final – it won't be, because we are playing against a team that hasn't lost a game in the tournament.

"So, obviously their confidence now is very high, and they won't want to lose the game against us, so we must just remain humble and just concentrate on the last important one."

Mbuli also sounded a warning to her charges not to think of the road ahead, and thereby invite unnecessary pressure, but to focus solely on the job at hand. 

"I just hope we don't go to the final thinking how we could join Sundowns [Ladies] and go to the Champions League – yes, that's the goal, but if we go to the game with that mentality, we might have a problem," she warned.

"We just have to approach this game the same as the other games we've played. Once we play the occasion, we'll feel the pressure and be nervous. I just hope [the players] play their normal game and don't think too deeply.

"I can say it as a coach, but I can't control how they feel, and I can't control what they talk about amongst themselves in their rooms or in the passage, but what I say to them is just to play the game as if it's any game."

READ: Mbuli reacts to UWC maiden CAFWCL Qualifiers final