Cape Town - A contrasting set of circumstances confront Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs ahead of Friday night’s eagerly anticipated MTN8 quarter-final at the Cape Town Stadium (kick-off 8pm).
The situation has transpired on the back of Chiefs losing their opening PSL fixture against Wits on Tuesday, while City emerged victorious in their debut match in the topflight with a 2-0 success over Polokwane City. But, as this beautiful game of football would have it, the scenario has resulted in a veritable mouth-watering encounter at the Mother City’s iconic former World Cup venue in Green Point on Friday night.
Chiefs, a permanent fixture in the PSL, remain the country’s most popular football club. The illustrious Soweto side’s success, over the years, needs no introduction. In contrast, City are in their inaugural campaign in the topflight. Having just been formed, after John Comitis bought the franchise of Mpumalanga Black Aces, the Capetonians are mere rookies when compared with Friday night’s opposition.
The Cape team has had to build a squad from scratch, while Chiefs’ notable history ensures there is always a settled style and culture about their approach.
But football, as we all know, respects none of this - it’s the result that counts. And, as a consequence, Chiefs and City are coated with different emotions on an evening - because it’s a Cup game - where the result is paramount. For Chiefs, accustomed to success, the pressure is already on, even though they’ve only played one match this season. It’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to this club. For City, there’s a mood of optimism after the opening win on Tuesday. They’ve settled the nerves and made a strong statement of intent - now the challenge is to continue the momentum, against a big club, on one of the biggest sporting stages in South Africa.
“The pressure is on Chiefs,” said City coach Eric Tinkler. “They come into the game as favourites, but they also now have the added pressure of having lost their opening game. I expect they’ll come out motivated and inspired to turn that around, and we will have to be ready. While Chiefs may think that they will come through this match easily, we want to make it difficult for them.”
Chiefs coach Steve Komphela acknowledged the plight in which he and his team found themselves, but explained his philosophy of pressure in his usual, unique manner.
“The seat is getting hot, but you have to be addicted to it,” said Komphela. “This is a fantastic brand, it’s a great job, who wouldn’t want it? But you have to embrace the pressure… It’s not about me coaching Chiefs, it’s about me representing the team, the brand - because you need to do right, and the most important people are the supporters, you have to make them happy. Respect the people who love this brand… It’s time to deliver for these people, that’s my ambition. That is why I say that pressure is nice, especially when you are taking it on behalf of the Chiefs people.”
Tinkler said the spirit in his squad is high and he sees Friday night’s Cup tie as another opportunity for him to gauge where they currently are as a team, as a club.
“Obviously, it was very important that we started on a positive note,” said the former Bafana Bafana midfielder now in charge of the Cape’s second PSL side. “We got that by beating Polokwane on Tuesday, which was good for the squad’s motivation and desire. It sets things up for a tough game against a strong and competitive Chiefs.
“Former Orlando Pirates players like Lehlohlonolo Majoro and Tshepo Gumede will be used to coming up against Chiefs, but, for the new foreign players in the team, this will be very different environment to what they are used to. As a coach, my job is to take my knowledge of Chiefs’ style and approach, and the strengths and weaknesses of their players, and pass it on to the squad in our desire for a positive result.”
As for Komphela, while he is cognisant of the Wits defeat, he is adamant they won’t get caught out by the PSL newbies on Friday night.
“We’ve seen who City are, we’ve seen what they can do,” said the former Bafana Bafana skipper at the helm of the country’s most popular football club. “We saw their structure, we saw their system… Looking at their game against Polokwane, it was only when (Lebogang) Manyama came on that their game changed. He brought the right levels of arrogance and he is an intelligent footballer. But we’ll have a plan for them…
“We are anxious for this Cup tie. After the loss to Wits, we know the responsibility on our shoulders and we want to rectify the mistakes we made. We may not have got any joy against Wits, but there are no negatives, we remain highly optimistic. While we didn't impose our game on Wits, come Friday we will, and we will do so with confidence.”
Independent Media