Ajax banking on hard-man Daniels to bring steel to midfield
IN A football team, innovation and imagination cannot exist without an element of steel.
It’s all good and well having players with thought and intelligence, but they’ll be over-run if there are no teammates to complement them with aggression and resilience.
For Ajax Cape Town, in a young team loaded with creative, inventive footballers, irrepressible central defender Clayton Daniels is the steel. And thankfully for Ajax, he returns to the starting team for this afternoon’s MTN8 second leg semi-final against Moroka Swallows in Dobsonville (kickoff 3pm).
Daniels was suspended for Ajax’s previous fixture – a league match against Platinum Stars – and his availability is a major boost for coach Foppe de Haan.
The first leg between these two teams ended in a 0-0 draw at Athlone two weeks ago, but Ajax want to qualify for the final for a second successive season – against a team that are going to take a physical approach.
And with this in mind, Daniels’ hard-man role in central defence becomes crucial.
Daniels is from the Cape Flats township of Bishop Lavis, where he is a product of John Ramsay High School. He played junior football for Riverside Rangers in Ravensmead and some senior football for Clyde Pinelands before being approached to come to Ajax.
After initially doing very well in the PSL side, when given his chance by former Ajax coach Muhsin Ertugral, the 26-year-old then found himself out of favour for quite a while. But the appointment of Dutch coach De Haan signalled a change of fortune for Daniels.
De Haan has an astute eye for talent and, under his tutelage Daniels has blossomed. In the early part of the new PSL season, he has been Ajax’s most consistent performer.
“It’s good to be back,” said Daniels. “We were unlucky not to beat Swallows in the first leg, but we have beaten them away from home before, as we did in the league match two weeks ago. There’s no reason why we cannot do so again.”
In addition to his defensive presence, Daniels is also a threat in the opposing penalty area, especially from free-kicks and corners. TOTTENHAM are set to agree a £1.5 million (R17m) fee for South African World Cup defender Bongani Khumalo from Supersport United in the January transfer window.
Spurs made a bid for the 23year-old after a trial at White Hart Lane in August, but the deal could not be completed before the summer window closed.
The centre-half, who scored against France in South Africa’s 2-1 win at the World Cup, flew to London on Thursday to discuss personal terms with Spurs, according to The Daily Mirror, with a view to a January move.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is in desperate need of a new defender because of fitness concerns over Ledley King and the continued absence of Jonathan Woodgate.
Woodgate is so far from fitness that he was omitted by Redknapp from his 25-man Premier League squad. – Daily Mail