While Cape Town City may be in fourth place in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) just three points behind log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, this hasn’t stopped them from turning their attention on to the Nedbank Cup.
The Citizens are set to take on Kaizer Chiefs this weekend in an eagerly anticipated encounter, and City assistant coach Vasili Manousakis states that his side are 100% focused on the encounter.
“We’ve been 150 percent focused on the Cup and look forward to the showdown with Amakhosi at the Mbombela Stadium,” Manousakis told Independent Media.
City coach Benni McCarthy’s right-hand man also admits that Amakhosi are favourites but believes that being underdogs is a tag that the Mother City-based outfit thrive on.
“They have home advantage and will have a strong crowd behind them, but that’s fine with us, we seem to raise our game for the big occasions and enjoy being tagged as the underdogs,” he said.
“We played them in a pre-season friendly and won 1-0 away and then took a 4-1 beating in the first league game at Cape Town Stadium, before exacting our revenge at the FNB Stadium at the end of January thanks to a never-say-die attitude and an error from their side to win 1-0,” he reflected.
“But now it’s a one-off encounter and we haven’t planned to exit the competition,” he continued.
“It will be a hard game and we expect to feel pressure from the home side, who won’t sit back and allow us to dictate matters,” he concluded.
The clash is set for Sunday and both sides will be determined to advance to the semi-finals of the knockout tournament.
Chiefs on the other end have added motivation in Nelspruit considering their long-drawn-out trophy drought.
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)