City highly motivated for Chiefs clash, says Tinkler

Herman Gibbs

After a run of two consecutive Premiership defeats, Cape Town City will look to turn their fortunes around after addressing their shortcomings at training sessions over the past two weeks.

The international window has given City a break from competition, but the time has come to hopefully return to winning ways when they resume their Premiership campaign on Saturday against Kaizer Chiefs, who are presently in seventh place.

The fifth-placed City are not pleased that this league clash will be played at Athlone Stadium (3.30pm kick-off) rather than the Cape Town Stadium – with the Stormers facing Ulster in a United Rugby Championship match on the same day at the 2010 Fifa World Cup venue.

“We would have preferred to play at our stadium, but it is what it is,” said City coach Eric Tinkler.

Sights set on Chiefs 👀

🆚 Kaizer Chiefs
📆 30 March
🏆 #DStvPrem
🏟️ Athlone Stadium
⌚️ 15H30
📺 Televised
🎟️ https://t.co/kZ8wlhZVjs pic.twitter.com/2X5UWxPbOe

— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) March 27, 2024

“I’m hoping that it (Athlone Stadium) will be a good pitch. The last time I checked, it wasn’t in great shape, but I guess they had four weeks to prepare the pitch.”

Tinkler said the record shows that his team haven’t won a game in four matches, but that was the nature of football.

“The way things are interpreted these days, you can say this club hasn’t won a match in four outings,” said Tinkler, while reflecting on a sequence of two defeats and two draws.

“Football can change very quickly.”

The start of the second half of the season has seen City dropping points regularly, and Tinkler feels it’s time to consolidate.

“Our start to the second half of the season has not been great,” the former Bafana midfielder said.

“This international window was an opportunity to fix certain areas of our game that I think are extremely important.

“There were a lot of injuries, and then we had suspensions. Players were moving (out of the club), and I don’t think the concentration was there.

“The Fifa break came at a good time because we had to work on certain areas of our game. It gave us a chance to bring certain players back fit that were key for us before the break.

“There were some new signings (such as Namibian international Aprocius Petrus). It was a chance to make them aware of our expectations of them, and the way we play.

“It’s a game against Chiefs, and players should be highly motivated, knowing what a big club it is.

“It’s important for us to try to get back to winning ways. There is no better team to do it against than Kaizer Chiefs.”

Chiefs will be hard hit because two key players, captain Yusuf Maart and fellow midfielder Edson Castillo, are both suspended. This will detract from the Amakhosi midfield because the duo have formed an excellent combination in central positions.

The two are suspended after picking up four yellow cards.

Their absence could present a golden opportunity for the unheralded Samkelo Zwane to step into the spotlight and showcase his talent.

Chiefs have dropped into seventh place after winning just one of their last five games, but are still within touching distance of the CAF club competition spots.

herman.gibbs@gmail.com