The Team of Choice currently enjoy the second best defensive record in the Absa Premiership and have over the last few years generally made it very difficult for the opposition to score against them.
This could be crucial at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Sunday against a star-studded Amakhosi side which boasts some serious firepower in the likes of Samir Nurkovic, Leonardo Castro, Bernard Parker, Lebogang Manyama, and Khama Billiat, who was out injured the last time the two clubs met.
It was of course just a few weeks back that United shocked Chiefs with a 2-1 win in the Telkom Knockout semi-finals.
De Reuck was outstanding that day. But he knows full well that along with central defensive partner Nazeer Allie and the rest of the team, Maritzburg will have to brace themselves for an Amakhosi side who will be out for revenge.
“We have a good group of players at Maritzburg and believe in ourselves that on our day we can beat anyone in the league,” he said.
“We must defend well, and I know we’ll create one or two clearcut chances – hopefully we can take them and keep a clean sheet.
“We have confidence going into the game, but we know it’s going to be very hard because Chiefs are going to come with a different approach.
“We just need to work hard on the day and I believe we can do the job on Sunday if we all come to the party,” the Cape Town-born defender continued.
“It’s very important for us to continue defending well. We haven’t scored a lot of goals, so the defending becomes even more important. With us we only need one goal to win a game, we have one of the best defences in the league and we pride ourselves on that.
“It’s not only me and Nazeer in the centre, but the whole defence, we need to cover all the spaces that they want to exploit. We have studied and analysed them, and they’ll probably have Billiat back, so we need to be able to deal with him.”
Regards his own form, De Reuck has been receiving plaudits for some outstanding displays. He is however determined not to let any kind of complacency set in.
“I have been happy with how I have been playing, but I am a humble person and I always want to do better,” the 23-year-old said. “I will look at my performances, the mistakes I make in a game and see how I can improve.”
Sunday’s match is the last of 2019. Kick off is at 3.30pm. Tickets are available at the Maritzburg United club shop in the Liberty Midlands Mall.
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