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Johannesburg - Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Surprise Moriri said he was ready to battle with the Orlando Pirates midfield pair of Oupa Manyisa and Andile Jali in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final encounter at Orlando Stadium on Sunday.
The 32-year-old Bafana Bafana player who is still grasping with his new role of initiating Sundowns' attacks from deep in the middle of the park, said the pair had made an impression.
"I have noted those two guys, and they both complement each other very well," said Moriri.
"Pirates' strong point is in midfield but we will definitely come to the party when we play them in the two legs."
In Pirates' successful run last season which saw them win a treble of trophies, including this cup, the young pairing of Manyisa and Jali was instrumental.
They are arguably the best midfield combination in the country.
The Brazilians have not won a trophy in four seasons, and have set themselves an early target of changing their under-achieving tag with the R8 Million prized trophy.
They have won this cup three times in history, with the last time being in 2007 under a different sponsor.
"That is true, it has been a while since we picked up some silverware," Moriri said.
"But the team and coach [Johan Neeskens] has set out on a plan of changing that this season, we will go out and fight against Pirates."
Sundowns enter the fray on a high having won their midweek Premiership match 2-0 over Jomo Cosmos with goals from lethal striker Katlego Mphela and nippy winger Elias Pelembe.
Both goals came in the second-half of that match.
There was, however, a concern over the side's failure to convert the numerous first-half opportunities they created.
They will have to be clinical this weekend even though their opponents, Pirates, have also suffered the same criticism of not converting chances to goals this season.
"I always say games are decided on goals, we created a lot of chances midweek but only scored two," said coach Neeskens.
"I am not that much concerned about that actually, I'd be more concerned if we did not create any goal scoring opportunities."
Pirates, however, will carry the favourites tag having beaten Sundowns in three meetings last season.
The defending champions beat Platinum Stars 1-0 on Wednesday night in a league match, with striker Ndumiso Mabena scoring.
Buccaneers captain Lucky Lekgwathi this week said he expected an explosive match against Sundowns, with their aim of winning at home ahead of next week's return leg.
"If our previous results against Sundowns are anything to go by, this is going to be one hell of a match as we want to continue dominating them," said Lekgwathi.
"But this will be a totally new fixture and we have prepared well and expect a fierce battle as it's always the case when two big clubs meet."
The match will kick off at 3pm with the second leg of the match set for next weekend at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
