Stellies to use Berkane as tune-up for knockouts

With a place in the CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals secured, Stellenbosch plans to use their final Group B match against RS Berkane to prepare for the knockout matches.

The Cape Winelands side, who qualified for the knockout stage with a game to spare following their 2-0 win over Stade Malien at Loftus Versfeld Stadium last week, will travel to Morocco to face Berkane at Stade Municipal on Sunday (9pm).

Stellies will finish second even if they win against Berkane as the Moroccan side will finish with 12 points should they win.

Coach Steve Barker said qualifying with a match to spare has allowed Stellies to relax and would go to their final game without pressure, which will be good for them.

"We have a tough match and winning our last game allowed us to be relaxed, but in preparation for the knockout stages, teams like Berkane are those you should expect to be making the semifinals and final," he said.

"So, getting a feeling of playing in North Africa against a team of their calibre is going to be a nice learning curve for us. So, we are going there to try and win the game; that's our nature. But at the same time, use it as an experience and hopefully that experience we get will help us to good use in the knockout stage against whoever we will be facing next."

The Moroccan side beat Stellies 3-1 in their first match in the group stage early in December, but since losing back-to-back in the opening games, Barker's charges regrouped and went on to collect three successive wins, which saw them advance to the next round.

Barker will look to players like Devin Titus and Fawaaz Basadien to help them as they aim to finish the group phase on a high note to take the winning momentum to the knockout stage.

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