Orlando Pirates juniors have expressed their optimism for this year’s edition of the Manchester United Premier Cup, as they fine-tune their preparations ahead of the prestigious tournament set to take place in England.

Tshepo Liphoko the top goal-scorer of the South African qualifiers is looking forward to help the team reach the next level of the tournament.

The former U17 skipper told Orlandopiratesfc.com that after the team’s great run in last year’s edition of the international tournament “we have to take our game to the next level.”

“We are looking forward to this tournament and we want to improve on our performance from last year. The height of the European teams was our major challenge, but this year we will definitely try to match them in that aspect. We just have to avoid set pieces near the 18-area and then we will be fine,” Liphoko said.

With two days to go before the team departs for England, the training sessions have been directed on defending set-pieces and tactical awareness.

Striker Siyanda Ngcobo – the new revelation in the U15 set up – is eyeing the MVP award. The current top scorer of the Soweto Football League is hoping to be the third Bucs player to win the MVP award in this tournament after Cyril Mashego in 2006 and Sakhile Ngubo in 2009.

He said: “I have been dreaming of this opportunity and I will try my best to help the team win this competition. We can do it.”

Meanwhile, Coach Thabo Senong who will lead the boys in black-and-white in Manchester, says that going to England will be a great opportunity to learn about the new training methods applied by the European teams in their academies.

“Tactical discipline is very important for the boys, and this tournament gives us coaches the opportunity to help them grow as players. The European academies are very disciplined when it comes to re-grouping and avoid counter-attacks; so this tournament will definitely be a great opportunity for us to learn and improve our game… the team is ready and we will give our best,” he said.