City’s Edmilson feels at home
EDMILSON DOVE has had a sensational start to his Cape Town City career and, in just four games, he’s taken the PSL by storm.
On Friday, City are back in action when they host PSL and African champions Mamelodi Sundowns at Athlone Stadium (8pm kickoff) – and Mozambican left-back Edmilson can’t wait to test his ability against the best club on the continent.
Signed by City on 27 January, Edmilson made his debut just two weeks later with a competent outing in a 3-0 win over Highlands Park. He followed that up with a solid performance in a 2-0 victory against neighbours Ajax Cape Town, an impressive display in a 2-2 draw with Orlando Pirates, and culminating in a man-of-the-match award in the weekend’s 3-0 success over Baroka FC in Polowane.
While defensively reliable and intelligent, it was the Mozambican left-footer’s attacking qualities that were particularly eye-catching against Baroka. In just a short space of time, Edmilson has loudly trumpeted his arrival as a footballer to watch.
City boss John Comitis explained how they brought the 22-year-old to the club and also emphasised that, even though, the transfer window was still some months off, they are constantly working at identifying players to strengthen the squad.
“When Australian Matt Sim left, we had made the decision to move left-back Thato Mokeke into midfield,” said Comitis. “That meant we were in the market for a left-back as we only had Ebrahim Seedat. We always like to have a competitive scenario in which we have two good players fighting for a position. We looked at the proposals we got from various agents around the world. Edmilson was among them and we honed in on him. We did our homework, we watched video footage of the player in action and we also watched him play in a friendly against Bafana. We then invited him for a brief trial, we liked what we saw and we signed him.”
And the left-back has proven to be an inspired capture for the Capetonians. Friday, though, is Edmilson’s big challenge – and he is fully aware of how difficult an encounter City can expect when coming up against an in-form Sundowns side.
“I think it will be a difficult game, maybe more than the others so far,” said Edmilson. “But I also think that we just have to do what we’ve been doing … It is working for us. We just need to abide by the information transmitted by the coach and put it into practice.”
Edmilson said he had been welcomed into the City family and it’s one of the main reasons why he has been able to adapt so well, so quickly.
“I believe that when someone arrives in a new house and is well received, it is easy to fit in,” he said. “It could not have been better with me, I feel at home here because my teammates and coaches allowed it to be so … The methods of work here in the PSL are very different, and in Mozambique we do not have the quality of grass that the fields have here.”
Looking to the future, Edmilson wasn’t about to get carried away with his good start. In fact, as far as he is concerned, there’s still much to do, and a long way to go.
“I am a dreamer and, faced with the dimension of my dreams, I have not done anything yet,” he said philosophically. “City are my family now and I hope to contribute positively to the goals set by the team, and I also hope that we will succeed in this regard.”