Menzo in the zone to ‘disturb’ Amakhosi

STANLEY Menzo is aware of the massive task that awaits his Ajax Cape Town team when they take on Kaizer Chiefs at the Athlone Stadium on Saturday(8.15pm kick-off).

While there remains all sorts of controversy with regard to the venue, and whether the game will take place or not, those are things out of Menzo’s control. His job is to ensure his players are ready and prepared – and that’s all he’s focused on.

A final decision on whether the game goes ahead will be taken at a third priority meeting today, involving Ajax, the police, the traffic department and the city’s disaster management.

In the two previous meetings, it was decided that Athlone for an Ajax-Chiefs match posed too many security risks.

Menzo, though, is not concerned with off-field issues. As far as he is concerned, when Chiefs turn up on Saturday, Ajax need to be at their best.

“Chiefs are a quality team that like to play football,” said the former Ajax Amsterdam and Netherlands goalkeeper. “They have very good individuals and they are an experienced, mature team. With Chiefs now top of the log and having lots of confidence, it’s going to be a fight.

“We have to make sure we don’t give them too much space, that we keep things tight and compact, and when we have chances, we have to be efficient at finishing them.

“But it’s also better to play against teams like Chiefs. They allow you to play and give you space. Other teams tend to sit back and wait to counter… So this will be more of a football game. It’s always good for a team to test itself against the best. We have to try to disturb their game, while trying to play our own game.”

Ajax come off a 1-all result with Polokwane City at the weekend, a performance the coach was quite happy with. In fact, if anything, he was disappointed with the result – he believes they had the better of the opportunities and could have won it.

The match, though, saw captain Travis Graham pick up a fourth booking, so he’ll sit out the Chiefs game with an automatic one-match suspension. Ajax will also be without Grant Margeman, a youngster Menzo rates highly. The 18-year-old scored a great goal against Polokwane – but will be missing for the next few weeks while on national duty with the South African Under20 squad at the youth Africa Cup of Nations in Zambia.

The Polokwane match allowed Menzo the chance to give new signing Rheece Evans his debut at right-back. Signed on loan from Sundowns, the robust defender impressed..