Baroka FC captain Ananias Gebhardt has revealed, exclusively to KickOff, what his Namibian national teammate Deon Hotto has told him ahead of their Nedbank Cup clash against Orlando Pirates.
Hotto is expected to lead Pirates to glory when they host second-tier Baroka at Orlando Stadium on Saturday (15:00).
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"'DH', he is my compatriot obviously, and it will be exciting to face him once more. We spoke about the weekend game and he was like: 'Yeah, you guys are coming to Orlando!'" says Gebhardt.
"And I was like: 'Yeah, we will meet that day. We are ready, and we more than prepared for Saturday'. That's what I told him, and he was excited.
"He is a boy that is focused and very disciplined when it comes to his job. I'm glad we're gonna battle it out once again on Saturday," he went on.
Meanwhile, former Bucs midfielder Collins Makgaka, now back at Bakgakga, is expected to prove to the Soweto giants they made a mistake by releasing him.
Gebhardt says his teammates are more excited than nervous about facing the competition's defending champions.
"My teammates are motivated, it's a big one for them. The youngsters are motivated to be playing against Orlando Pirates," Gebhardt says.
"We are more excited than being scared. Obviously, as a youngster on the day of the game, there will be a bit of butterflies, but once you get a few touches, you should be okay.
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"We won against Pirates in the 2018 Telkom Knockout final. We fought, we were resisting the pressure, and I'm sure this time around Pirates will come well-prepared. We watched them on Saturday, and we saw what we could exploit."