Cape Town - There’s a renewed sense of buoyancy about football in the Mother City. It’s something that’s not often the case - inconsistency has plagued the Cape’s top-flight clubs over the years - but suddenly there’s a whiff of anticipation in the air.
At the moment, as the second half of the PSL season gets under way on Tuesday night, it’s just a hint that something’s brewing - but, if things go their way, Cape Town City and Ajax Cape Town could well be teams to be reckoned with when the title-race enters the final sprint in a few months’ time.
Both sides are in action on Tuesday evening, with City hosting Gordon Igesund’s Highlands Park at the Cape Town Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm), while Ajax are in Johannesburg for a really tough, competitive fixture against second-placed Wits (7.30pm).
City have, of course, got tongues wagging in their debut season. Currently in third position on the PSL log, level on 25 points with the top clubs - SuperSport United and Wits - they also surprised everybody by going on to win the Telkom Knockout last year. It has been a wonderful start and, as head coach Eric Tinkler rightly suggests, the real challenge begins now.
“The long break is over and the league re-starts tonight,” said Tinkler. “It’s going to be a really tough five months ahead. We’ve got Highlands tonight and they will be coming here desperate to get a result.
“For us, we have to make that we stay motivated, so that we maintain our position among the top teams on the standings. The break was all about re-grouping and focusing on what’s important to us going forward. Tuesday night is very important, in that we will be able to assess where we are after the break.”
City’s remarkable arrival as a PSL entity and the rapid success they’ve managed to achieve, both on and off the field, has, in turn, inspired neighbours Ajax. For too long, they’ve been the only top-flight Cape club, with the result a measure of complacency perhaps set in. But, now, with City as rivals, Ajax have been forced to re-think, re-strategise and, importantly, light a fire under everybody involved with the club.
In October last year, Ajax were mired towards the basement of the log and even battling to get a victory under the belt. Enter Stanley Menzo as head coach and things quickly turned for the better. The Capetonians won five of their last six games last year to rocket into ninth position on the standings. A few wins this year and Ajax could be right in there and challenging. But they kick off the year with a tricky fixture Wits are one of the big favourites for the championship this season - and Ajax are going to have be at their best to come away with something positive.
While Menzo admits that he has no pressing concerns with regard to the Ajax squad - he is happy with the improvement shown last year - he admits that there are areas which need a bit of attention and focus.
“I think we need to control game situations more, sometimes we let things get away from us,” said the Ajax coach. “Also, while we create chances, we aren’t taking enough of them. We need to make use of our scoring opportunities.”
As for Wits on Tuesday night, Menzo is fully aware of the weighty task at hand: “It’ll be tough, they’re a good team and their performances this season have proven that."