It’s a busy September for Ajax Cape Town as they prepare for four home fixtures, starting with a plum outing against Orlando Pirates at the Cape Town Stadium tomorrow night (kickoff 7.30pm).
After that, it’s on to Polokwane City (September 20), the big, much-anticipated derby against Cape Town City (September 23) and then high-riding title-favourites Wits (September 28). These three games are also scheduled for Cape Town Stadium.
Ajax have, of course, been hovering beneath the radar of late, in light of the much-hyped formation of City as the Cape’s new PSL club. But the next two weeks will definitely hurtle them back into the spotlight - and coach Roger de Sa is fully aware that they need to make an impression.
Ajax are no longer the only PSL club in the Mother City and, with competition for supporters’ hard-earned disposable cash, they have to do the business on the field to ensure that they remain the Cape’s most popular top-flight club.
The Pirates challenge tomorrow is the ideal stage for Ajax to make that statement. The fixture is a rather fitting example of the coaching merry-go-round in the PSL. Just the other day, De Sa was in the hot seat at Pirates, while the Soweto team’s current coach is Muhsin Ertugral, who, over the years, has become almost synonymous with Ajax. No doubt, both coaches know quite a bit about how the other club operates.
“We have four games at home coming up,” said De Sa. “The aim is just to play the way we know how to play. As we did when winning the MTN8 last season, we used good passing, speedy wing play and a direct style. That’s how we like to play, and that’s how I expect the team to play tomorrow.
“It will obviously be easy to motivate the players against Pirates, so hopefully we will be able to get something from the match. It’ll be a headache to pick the starting team, but that’s a nice problem to have.”
De Sa only has Tashreeq Morris and Kenyan Ali Abondo on the injury list. But, with Ajax having made a number of quality, experienced new signings, like Joaquim Lupeta, Eric Chipeta, Thabo Mosadi, Roscoe Pietersen, Mark Mayambela and Lebogang Mokoena, and with all of them pushing for a place, selection is certainly a bit of a headache.
“We had a tough first game of the season (a 1-1 draw away to Baroka FC) and we now have Pirates as our first home game,” said De Sa. “There’s been a long break in between, so we have to start all over again. But that’s how it is - Pirates are always difficult, but perhaps this is a good time to play them as they are still finding their way. Pirates like to control things, so our plan is to starve them of possession and to play the game at our tempo, not theirs. We have to take it to them.”
“I think this season we have signed well and sold well,” added De Sa.
“We’ve got some experience around the youngsters. For us, it’s always about improving every season and that’s obviously our objective. We’ve got Lebo (Mokoena), Roscoe (Pietersen) and Mark (Mayambela) as cool heads who can put their foot on the ball and lead from the front. With Riyaad Norodien gone (to Pirates), we’ve got Thabo Mosadi to bring some creativity out wide and, up front, Lupeta offers us something different, in that’s he’s a powerful forward who just wants to score goals.
“As for me, my aim is always to try to win every game. It won’t happen, obviously - all I can tell you is that we will try to win each and every game, that’s always the approach.”
PSL Fixtures:
Tuesday
Ajax Cape Town v Orlando Pirates (Cape Town Stadium, 7.30pm); Polokwane City v Wits; Highlands Park v Baroka FC
Wednesday
Kaizer Chiefs v Platinum Stars; SuperSport United v Chippa United; Golden Arrows v Cape Town City (Prince Magogo Stadium, 7.30pm); Free State Stars v Bloemfontein Celtic; Maritzburg Utd v Mamelodi Sundowns
MTN8 semi-finals, second leg
Saturday
Cape Town City v Wits (Cape Town Stadium, 8.15pm) - Wits won the first leg 3-0.
Wednesday, September 21
Mamelodi Sundowns v Chippa United
Cape Times