Urban Warriors all set to jet off to Angola again after a fruitful meeting with Safa
AJAX CAPE TOWN have agreed to participate in the CAF Confederation Cup after the intervention of Safa finally prised open the communication channels with the Angolan federation.
The Cape side is scheduled to play GD Sangrada Esperanca in the first leg of the opening tie in Dundo, Angola on Saturday.
Last week, after much deliberation, Ajax took the tough decision of withdrawing from the continental inter-club competition after all their emails, faxs and appeals for information from the Angolans resulted in nothing.
Needless to say, Safa were furious with the Urban Warriors’ decision because only the mother body is allowed to with- draw a club from a CAF event.
Safa and Ajax met on Monday to discuss the situation. The club explained its position and stated that it would only change the position if given assurances with regard to the safety of the players.
This has now, apparently, been done and Ajax yesterday confirmed they would take their place in the CAF tournament. They qualified for the event by finishing runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns in last season’s Nedbank Cup. With Sundowns already in the African Champions League, the Confederation Cup spot fell to Ajax.
“After a fruitful meeting between the representatives of Safa and Ajax held on Monday, Ajax agreed to withdraw their decision of not playing the CAF Confederation match against GD Sagrada Esperanca on Saturday,” the PSL club said in a statement yesterday.
“It was, however, subject to Safa providing Ajax with all the information which was previously requested (from the Angolans), which included full details of the aircraft to be used to transport the team internally and a full, detailed itinerary during the stay in Angola.
“At the meeting, Ajax assured Safa of their commitment to participate in the CAF Confederation Cup, as the club had carefully planned the trip, ensuring that the players had all been vaccinated in accordance with travelling requirements and had obtained their visas. Although the reservation for the flight from Cape Town to Luanda had lapsed, Ajax undertook to do their utmost to try and reinstate the booking, which we managed to do.
“Although the itinerary for the trip is still outstanding and we are still not aware of departure or arrival times and hotel reservations, Ajax have decided to fulfill the fixture.
“Safa have provided us with the necessary information to appease the club with regards to the safety of the players and travelling staff.”
This is, of course, great news for the many youngsters in the Ajax squad, who view this competition as an opportunity to gain experience and a more difficult stage upon which to gauge their ability.
Last night, Ajax played Mpumalanga Black Aces in a PSL fixture and, tomorrow morning, they board a plane to jet them off to Angola, where they will kick off their continental adventure on Saturday.