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Cup finalists Stars and United deliberately not changing their routines

Deolin Mekoa of Maritzburg United during the Nedbank Cup, Last 16 match between Royal Eagles and Maritzburg United at Princess Magogo Stadium on March 11, 2018 in Durban, South Africa.
Deolin Mekoa of Maritzburg United during the Nedbank Cup, Last 16 match between Royal Eagles and Maritzburg United at Princess Magogo Stadium on March 11, 2018 in Durban, South Africa.
Image: Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images

Both Free State Stars and Maritzburg United are deliberately not changing their routines or making any special plans for next weekend’s Nedbank Cup final.

The two sides are trying to keep things as normal as possible ahead of the cup final showdown.

“If you start to do things out of the ordinary‚ you create confusion‚” insisted Stars General Manager manager Rantsi Mokoena on Monday.

“We all know how important the game is but we do not want to distract the players.”

Stars were last in a cup final 19 years ago while for Maritzburg it is a first.

But there are no plans for a special camp‚ send off or any other commemorations before they head to Cape Town for the final on May 19.

“It’s just another game. We are keeping the same situation we always have‚” said Maritzburg’s Operations Manager Quintin Jettoo.

Both clubs are planning to arrive the day before the final at the Cape Town Stadium‚ as they would for any other away fixture in the Cape.

But it will be only the second trip to the city for Maritzburg this season after they beat Ajax 2-1 in January.

Their scheduled match last November against Cape Town City was moved to Durban when there was stadium shortage in Cape Town.

Maritzburg won 4-2.

Stars lost to City 1-0 in November at the Athlone Stadium‚ drew 0-0 with Ajax at the Cape Town Stadium in January and were back at Athlone in March where they scrapped through on post-match penalties against Ubuntu Cape Town in the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup.

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