Johannesburg – Ajax Cape Town are seeking progression to the final ahead of their Nedbank Cup semi-final clash against SuperSport United at Athlone Stadium, Cape Town.
The youthful Cape side under coach Roger de Sa are confident they can get a result against a well-drilled SuperSport outfit.
“The guys are well motivated and they’ve been looking forward to it for quite some time,” said De Sa.
“We haven’t reached this stage for a couple years, and with our young squad we’re looking forward to it. Hopefully we can stay in it.”In the two previous league encounters between the sides, Ajax played out to a goalless draw in December in Cape Town and beat SuperSport 2-1 in the return fixture in March.
“It’s good that we won one and drew one, they haven’t beaten us yet.
“But you can’t look to much into that. I think we’ve got to focus on our game and it’s quite different to be playing a cup semi-final to a PSL match.”
Ajax were currently placed sixth in the league table, with the prospect of moving further up in the four remaining games. Cup success and a top finish in the league would go down well according to defender Nazeer Allie.
“We’re having a fantastic season – in the top eight in the league and in the semis here,” said Allie.
“But we really want to make it one of those seasons you don’t forget by making the final.”
On Sunday, Mamelodi Sundowns attempt to salvage something from their season when they take on National First Division side Vasco da Gama at Lucas Moripe Stadium.
Sundowns were officially dumped out of the league title race on Wednesday with Kaizer Chiefs clinching league honours with a 4-1 victory over Polokwane City. With the race to the championship over, even more emphasis would be on garnering some silverware this season according to Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane.
“We are playing Vasco and we are expected to win,” said Mosimane.
“It’s a must win for us if we are serious about gaining something this year, we need to win this game and do it convincingly.”
The final nail in the coffin of The Brazilians’ title challenge came with a crushing 5-0 loss to Bloemfontein Celtic last week, but they rebounded with a 1-1 draw against Platinum Stars on Wednesday, albeit handing the trophy to Chiefs in the process.
“When I look at the last two games we are progressing well,” said Mosimane.
“The game against Celtic was not that impressive, but with the one against Platinum Stars there was some improvement, especially in the second half. I just want to finish the season on a high.
“I saw that Sundowns is back again after the draw against Platinum Stars. We are not going to take Vasco for granted. They are an awkward team with a very good coach in Tony de Nobrega.” – ANA