It’s a Sporting day in Cape Town
YESTERDAY’S Cape Town Cup final produced such a tight, absorbing contest that Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew described it as having “the intensity of a Europa League match”.
Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon are the Mother City’s first champions of this inaugural pre-season event, hosted by the City of Cape Town and Ajax Cape Town, after defeating English club Palace 2-0 in yesterday’s finale at the Cape Town Stadium.
In typical European-style football, the game was played with superb technical ability, supreme athleticism and involved quick-thinking and tactical movement of the highest quality.
“That type of highly competitive opposition is just what we needed at this stage,” said Pardew. “We expected that we would get that from Sporting… but, trust me, the intensity and the commitment out there were enormous.
“The match was played at a very high level, we tried to win it and so did they. Sporting are a typical Jesus side (Sporting manager Jorge Jesus), they are quick to the ball, competitive and have very good technique. He’s come across from rivals Benfica and the pressure on him is huge, it was there to see today.
“For my players, I was impressed with their commitment to the team, to the game and to the tournament. We can only get better, I thought we lacked a bit of width today, especially with Wilfried Zaha not fit as yet and Yannick Bolasie injured. We never had that cutting edge in attack, but it’s something we can rectify when we get a few players back from injury and again.”
Jesus was happy with his team’s improved performance, especially after they struggled to beat a plucky Ajax team on Friday. “This Cup final win was very important for my team,” said the Sporting manager. “We played a lot better than we did on Friday … There’s still a lot to do, we are still learning. But it’s always good to be winning when you are learning. It also makes sure that the team gets used to winning.
“It’s a learning process, I
fully
fit have more work to do to get this team playing the way I want them to. But, nevertheless, it was a great performance and great result for us today in winning the Cape Town Cup.”
The European clubs have had a fantastic time in Cape Town and really enjoyed the tournament.
“We’ve loved our stay, every aspect of it” said Pardew. “The players and the staff have had a superb time, we couldn’t have asked for more. It’s just a pity that we couldn’t pull off a win in the final.
“But I can tell you that we would love to come back. We have already spoken about perhaps coming here for our midseason break …”
While the event was slow in catching the attention of the local public, there was a sizeable crowd of around 15 000 in attendance yesterday, and the two local clubs involved, Ajax and SuperSport United, were as enthusiastic about their participation. The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in the early game yesterday, with Ajax coach Roger de Sa saying: “It’s a great initiative and we had a fantastic weekend. It allowed me to give all the players a run and it’s looking positive ahead of the start of the PSL season.”
SuperSport coach Gordon Igesund echoed De Sa’s sentiments: “A big thank you to Cape Town for organising this event. I’m happy that I was able to get a look at everyone in the squad. I tried a few combinations and, at least, we played far better today than we did in the first half against Crystal Palace on Friday.”