THE past weekend was a pretty good one for the Western Cape clubs, with both Cape Town City and Stellenbosch FC victorious in their respective matches.
The Citizens beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in a Premiership match marking Muhsin Ertugral’s return to the local game, while Stellies won 2-0 against Lunda Sul to give themselves a chance to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup quarter-finals.
The two clubs now have the chance to shine even further tonight on what is a Cape Town versus Johannesburg evening, City hosting Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch away to Chiefs (both 7.30pm kick-offs).
Ertugral – the revered Turkish coach who has been in charge of numerous clubs in the domestic Premiership – is champing at the bit to meet yet another of his former clubs.
Back in South Africa after a six-year absence, during which he worked with the Turkish national team, he has joined City as their technical director on a three-year contract – but will be coaching until the end of the season after the sacking of Eric Tinkler.
He had a brilliant start at the weekend as City beat Chiefs 1-0 courtesy of a brilliant breakaway goal by Darwin Gonzalez, and while encouraged by what his team did, he is wily enough to know that the Buccaneers are going to be a different proposition.
“Pirates are a very strong team, so we know we are in for a difficult match.”
The City players will no doubt make the new coach aware that when Pirates last visited them in Cape Town, they held their own against the revered Soweto side.
City were pretty impressive in the MTN8 semi-final, first leg tie which ended 1-1 at the Cape Town Stadium, and on the balance of play that day, Tinkler and his men should have won.
Play anything like they did back then, and City should run Jose Riveiro’s men close, if not complete a rare back-to-back double over one of the country’s biggest clubs.
For Ertugral – who previously led Pirates, only to resign dramatically during a post-match television interview after a slaughtering by SuperSport United – beating them immediately after he presided over a victory against Chiefs is sure to be super sweet.
For that to materialise, skipper Thami Mkhize is going to have to produce as assured a performance as he did against Chiefs.
Lorenzo Gordinho was near impenetrable on Sunday, and has to be as uncompromising against the likes of Mohau Nkota and Relebohile Mofokeng, while Thabo Nodada must spray the passes about as he did in the win over the Amakhosi.
City are a work in progress, having had it pretty bad at the beginning of this season under Tinkler, and Ertugral has said that it will take some time to have the team back in the position of potential challengers.
He has a lot of young players that he believes need to be worked on, and he is hoping that the likes of Mkhize, Gordinho and Kamohelo Mokotjo will play a role in mentoring the ‘spring chickens’ as he works his renowned magic of turning young players into top stars.
So much as he is pleading for time, he knows that a victory over Pirates, on the back of last Sunday’s one against Chiefs, will endear him to the Citizens faithful.
At Stellies, coach Steve Barker has already beaten Pirates, and how he’d love to complete a double by beating a Chiefs side that will be celebrating their 55th anniversary.
The Cape Winelands team have their tails up thanks to consecutive victories in continental competition, results that have left them needing to just beat Stade Malien this coming weekend to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Ready for tomorrow 👊 pic.twitter.com/xKuD2XGv49
— Stellenbosch FC (@StellenboschFC) January 7, 2025
That would be a massive feat for the continental debutants, but tonight, the focus is on the bread and butter of the domestic league.
And with Chiefs blowing hot and cold as they have been, Stellies will trot on to the FNB Stadium pitch confident of taking maximum points.
How the Mother City would love to see both their clubs getting the better of Soweto’s finest on the same night.