Ajax expect fight from ‘doomed’ Baroka

AJAX CAPE TOWN tackle Baroka FC in their final PSL match of the season with a top eight position on the line, but they will have to do so without influential central defender Rivaldo Coetzee. The two sides meet at the Cape Town Stadium this afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

Coetzee was this week named in the Bafana Bafana squad and last week he won the Cape side’s Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season awards. His absence today because of a hamstring injury is not only a big blow for Ajax, but it also robs local fans of the opportunity to bid farewell to the talented 20-year-old.

It’s no secret that big-spending Mamelodi Sundowns are in negotiation with Ajax for the services of the player, while there is also the possibility that he could move overseas. One thing is sure, though, it’s unlikely that Coetzee will be seen in the colours of Ajax next season.

But the Capetonians can’t concern themselves too much about the loss of one player. There is just too much at stake today.

After finally turning around a dreadful year in the past few weeks, Ajax have a chance to finish in the top eight. As it stands currently, Maritzburg United are seventh with 37 points, followed by Ajax 36, Golden Arrows 35, Platinum Stars 34 and Orlando Pirates 33.

Victory is needed – and if it means relegating Baroka in the process, then, says Ajax coach Stanley Menzo, so be it.

Baroka are last on the PSL log with 25 points, with the other clubs in danger being Highlands (26 points), Free State Stars and Chippa United (both 27) and Bloemfontein Celtic (28). The team that finishes at the bottom is relegated; the club that ends second-last joins the two First Divisions teams (Stellenbosch FC and Black Leopards) in the promotion play-offs.

“It isn’t nice if we are to relegate Baroka, but we have to focus on ourselves,” said Menzo.

“We expect them to fight, they have a lot of runners and they don’t give up. They only stop when the last whistle goes. They are very direct and always go for the second ball.

“We have to play our game. If we play their way, we will lose. For us, there is still a lot to play for, a big 90 minutes is needed, as we aim to finish in the top eight.”

Menzo took over as coach in October last year and, while he has experienced the ups and downs of the sport, he is nevertheless happy with his contribution.

“It’s not nice for the club when you are at the wrong end of the standings,” he said. “Some parts of the season were enjoyable, but you can’t smile when things don’t go right. At least, we finished well… We can still improve a lot more.”

EMBARRASSING AS it was, I got it wrong. And it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that now as Sports Editor, I’m a bit far removed from the coalface of the action than I was as a reporter.

It was plainly and simply a matter ofdsfsdfsdfsadf.

At the SuperSport Media Quiz, at the quaint Aquilla Game Lodge some 40km northwest of Worcester, one of the questions asked was: which team will finish with a negative goal difference for the first time in PSL history?”

The options given for the answer were Ajax Cape Town, Orlando Pirates and Bloemfontein Celtic.

Sure, I knew that the Buccaneers are in danger of missing out on qualifying for the top eight. But I didn’t think it was as bad as it is.

Well, maybe not as bad as our showing at the quiz where we finished stone last out of the six teams.

That I didn’t go for Pirates as the answer was purely instinctive really. You see Mabhkaniya are such a big team, an institution of both the local and continental game that you just don’t associate them with such poor records or stats from a trivia question.

Any mention of the name Orlando Pirates stirs up thoughts of success. As Pitso Mosimane said during the week, “wherever you go in Africa, when they find out you are from South Africa they say ‘Orlando’ or ‘Mamelodi’.”

And no self-respecting football fan will ask why…. The fact that the two teams are the only ones from South Africa to have attained the continent’s football Holy Grail – the Champions Cup/League – common knowledge.

This season though Ezimnyama and success have resembled nothing but the parallel lines of a railway line – seemingly destined never to meet.

Unsurprising then that the tick for that question at the Quiz went against their name. The 1995 African champions are sitting on a -10 goal difference that they will not improve to a positive even if they were to field a team made up of their greatest stars ever since their formation back in 1937 for this afternoon’s final league match against Golden Arrows.

Someone was quick to point out that I needed only to have remembered the six goals they conceded, not once but twice this season to have figured out Pirates was the answer and we probably wouldn’t have brought up the rear. In the heat of the competition though, such memories sit way back in the mind.

In any case, Pirates could well banish those embarrassing defeats for good by not only ending the season victorious at Arrows but by also capturing Nedbank Cup title on June 24 when they take on defending champions SuperSport United.

Win there and an 80th Anniversary season that is teetering on the brink of disastrous would be salvaged.

Kjell Jonovret, the Swedish coach who took over midway through the season seems to be aware of what’s at stake if his utterances are anything to go by. The question is whether the players do.

Big clubs such as Pirates have been built on sweat, tears and even blood – with many men (and women) having given their all, often at the detriment of themselves and their families.

And it is incumbent upon those presently bestowed with the honour of carrying the flag to reflect the club’s history and ensure that they add their bit to the legacy.

Right now, with Pirates, being the answer to a Quiz question such as the one I got wrong on Thursday, I am inclined to assume Oupa Manyisa and Co have not truly reflected.

For if they did, they probably would have played with much more passion than they have displayed this season and the club wouldn’t be facing the ignominy of a maiden negative goal difference that looks set to bring with it a first failure to finish in the top eight.

And that bloody question wouldn’t have been in the Quiz and we probably wouldn’t have finished stone last.