Cape derby looms
THE Cape Town derby has been resuscitated and rejuvenated by the arrival of Cape Town City as a PSL club.
Ajax Cape Town and City lock horns in the Mother City derby at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (8.15pm) and finally, after many years of indifference, there’s a buzz of anticipation around a football match between two Cape rivals.
And rivals they are indeed. The feud between the two owners – City’s John Comitis and Ajax’s Ari Efstathiou – needs no discussion. After selling his shares in Ajax and then establishing his own PSL club last June, Comitis won the first round when City beat Ajax 2-1 in September.
With the pressure now on Ajax to ensure they aren’t further usurped by their noisy neighbours from Green Point, the expectation and excitement for this derby is at fever pitch.
The sides head into the derby with contrasting moods. While Ajax are smarting from an embarrassing 5-0 defeat to Wits in Johannesburg on Tuesday night, City are beaming after dismantling Highlands Park 3-0 to maintain their spot among the top three.
But City aren’t reading much into Ajax’s heavy loss. In fact, the result has coach Eric Tinkler treading cautiously.
“We can’t take this game against Ajax too lightly,” said Tinkler. “The harsh reality is that in derbies such as these, form goes out of the window. While we may be going into the game with our morale high, and they lost heavily to Wits, we cannot under-estimate the opposition. If we do, we will come unstuck.
“Also, Ajax will be coming into this game highly motivated. They’ll have put the hammering behind them and they’ll see the fixture against us as an opportunity to redeem themselves. Make no mistake, we will have to work very hard to get a result.”
Tinkler has also been impressed by the improvement Ajax have shown since coach Stanley Menzo assumed the hot seat.
“Under Menzo they started to win games last year,” said Tinkler. “It looked like he had brought back discipline and desire in the squad. The Dutch influence is evident in the way they are playing under Menzo. It’s a possession-based game… Sometimes it can be good but sometimes it can work against you, as they found out against Wits on Tuesday. That result will be a learning curve for Ajax.”
With City loftily perched, the obvious question to both Tinkler and Comitis was whether they’re thinking about winning the title.“For us there are no targets, just games,” said Comitis. “Earlier in the week we focused on Highlands, now we are focused on Saturday’s game against Ajax. After that, we’ll worry about the next one… That’s the attitude and the approach. There is no pressure on the players; all they have to do is go out and express themselves.”
Tinkler echoed the words of the boss. “It’s just game by game,” said the former Bafana Bafana midfielder. “My first target is 31 points, which takes relegation out of the equation. Once we get there, we’ll have a look and re-assess.”
Comitis also used the opportunity to parade the club’s new signings to the media – Mozambican left-back Edmilson Dove, striker Letsie Koapeng, midfielder Siyabonga “Chico” Dubula and the latest addition, Zimbabwe international goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva.
Edmilson and Koapeng played in the win over Highlands, both acquitting themselves well, while Mukuruva comes in as cover for number one Shu-aib Walters.
“Both Walters and Samora Motloung were recently injured in the same training session and we realised we had to move quickly to ensure we had keeper cover,” explained Comitis. “Motloung will be out for eight weeks, while Walters recovered to take his place against Highlands.
“But we watched the recent (African) Nations Cup, where Mukuruva was playing for Zimbabwe. When we realised he was a free agent, we immediately made sure we brought him to the club.”
So, let’s bring on the derby…