Vital wins needed for City and Urban Warriors
IT HASN’T been the best of times for the Mother City’s two PSL clubs.
On Wednesday night, Ajax Cape Town lost 2-0 to Free State Stars in Bethlehem – and, seven games into the season, they are languishing thirdfrom-bottom on the log standings, having accumulated just five points.
Cape Town City came unstuck in the MTN8 final at the weekend and, on Tuesday night, they lost again – 1-0 to Bloemfontein Celtic at Athlone – and, like neighbours Ajax, they need to turn things around, and quickly too.
The good thing about football is that the next game provides an opportunity to rapidly erase the ghosts of the previous fixture. For both Ajax and City, that opportunity arrives this weekend when both are in action and, needless to say, it’s must-win scenarios, albeit for different motivations.
Ajax host Bloem Celtic at the Athlone Stadium tomorrow night (kick-off 8.15pm), while City are in East London to take on Chippa United on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 3.30pm). For Ajax, victory is paramount for two reasons: to calm the team’s relegation fears and, at the same time, to ease the pressure on Ajax coach Stanley Menzo. For City, who are in fifth position on the PSL log with 12 points from seven games, victory is essential if they want to stay in touch with the other title-challengers.
Menzo must, by now, be feeling the heat. He’s a professional right down to his toes, so he understands the peculiar dynamics and difficulties of being a football coach – and he will know why his job is now in the glare of the media spotlight.
Menzo been in charge of Ajax for a year now. Initially, he made a great impact after replacing Roger de Sa, but it hasn’t looked good for quite a while now. No doubt, both the big bosses at Ajax Amsterdam and the local head honchos are very concerned. Last year, when De Sa quit, the team was winless after seven games; this time, under Menzo, it’s one win after seven games.
As such, for the beleaguered Ajax coach and squad, the best way to respond is a convincing performance and a winning result tomorrow. But it won’t be easy. Earlier in the week, Celtic saw off Ajax’s muchhyped neighbours City at Athlone – and it wasn’t so much the victory, it was the energy and commitment of their performance that was even more eye-catching.
As for City, coach Benni McCarthy wasn’t a happy chappy after the defeat to the Bloemfontein side on Tuesday. The former Bafana Bafana striker gave a number of regular starters a break and offered opportunities to other players in the squad. As far as he was concerned, not too many put up their hands in what was a dismal display. McCarthy made it clear that from now onwards rotation was out and he would be playing “the strongest available team”.
In former Cape club Chippa, though, the City coach is aware that he is up against a tough opponent.
“Another difficult challenge, They are a very good footballing side. Against Celtic we were up against a physical, aggressive team, now we have the opposite.”