This after his side were drawn against Guinean club AS Kaloum during the draw earlier today in Cairo. Pirates avoided teams like Al Ahly, Zamalek, Esperance, Asec Mimosas and Raja Casablanca who all dropped out of the CAF Champions League to join the second-tier competition.
Tinkler says playing against unknown teams is difficult to prepare for and stated that they wanted to face a team like Al Ahly or Esperance, teams they faced in the group stages of the Champions League in 2013.
READ: Who are AS Kaloum?
“It was going to make our preparations a lot easier because to get footage on those teams is a lot easier, because they are well-known teams,” Tinkler said at OR Tambo International Airport on their way to Pietermaritzburg to play Maritzburg United tomorrow.
“We know them, we experienced them in the past, now we are playing against a team who are not playing in their country [Guinea due to the Ebola virus] – they are playing in Mali.
“The question is, is there going to be footage for those games they played? It is going to be a lot more difficult for us to get a lot of information.
“But the spirit is very, very high, everybody at training was talking about the draw and who we are likely to get. Everybody had their own opinion which shows the interest the players have in going far in this competition.
“When they all heard about the team, they were saying good maybe we will face Al Ahly later but they would have liked to played them now. But they have accepted the fact that we have drawn this team.”
Get the latest Pirates news sent to your phone. SMSs cost R1.50.
Pirates will play away first on the weekend of May 15-17 and Tinkler said they need to have the same approach they had when they played their away matches earlier in the competition.
“We need to try and ensure that we get an away-goal because that gives us the added advantage when we come home,” Tinkler added.
“We know that they are a team which comes out from the Champions League, so it is important for us to go there with the same focus that we had when we went to Gabon.”