Urban Warriors and ‘difficult’ Wits set to become familiar foes

AJAX CAPE TOWN will be seeing quite a bit of Wits over the next few weeks.

In addition to Ajax facing Wits in their opening league fixture tomorrow, they were also yesterday drawn to play the Johannesburg club in a two-leg MTN8 Cup semi-final tie.

The first leg is scheduled for August 15/16 and the second leg for August 29/30.

“Look, when it comes down to the final four, any team is a good team,” said Ajax coach Roger de Sa.

“Wits are a good side and they will be among the title contenders this season. They have a quality squad and will be difficult.

“But at this stage of a Cup competition it doesn’t really matter who you play… every game, every team, comes with its own set of challenges. We have to try to overcome those challenges.”

With it being a two-leg tie, De Sa admitted that his team’s performance at home would be crucial.

“When we play at home, we are always confident,” he said. “Our form at home has always been consistent.

“It’s when we go away that we have a few problems. But that, too, is starting to get better, so we will see how it goes.”

Meanwhile Tshepo Ntsoelengoe reports that defending MTN8 champions Kaizer Chiefs will travel to Bloemfontein Celtic for the first leg of the semi-finals of the competition following a draw done at the Premier Soccer League headquarters in Parktown yesterday.

Chiefs right back Siboniso Gaxa says he is expecting a tough encounter against Phunya Sele Sele, who invariably produce their best football when playing at home in front of their vociferous fans.

“I think every team that is in the semis deserves to be here. Obviously playing Celtic away is always tough for us. It has been tough since I have joined Chiefs. But it won’t be tough for Chiefs alone, but for them too.

“We have to go back and look at their performance so that we can prepare well when we play them in Bloem. It is going to be a tough match for us; any semi-final that we play is always tough.

“They are one of the toughest opponents we are going to face in the beginning of the season.

However, we are looking forward to it. We always put ourselves in these situations, playing semi-finals and the finals.

“We are excited; these are the games that test players,” said the former Mamelodi Sundowns and Super Sport United player.