It’s the iKapa derby tomorrow night and it should be the defining showpiece for Mother City football.
Fans of the game in the Cape have missed the excitement of a proper professional rivalry on their doorstep.
This weekend, I’m hopeful that it will provide football lovers just that.
Ideally, you’d want two strong sides coming up against each other, dishing up high-quality football.
But heading into the clash between Ajax Cape Town and Cape Town City, the odds are stacked in favour of City.
The new kids on the block are doing something amazing. Since John Comitis bought the Black Aces PSL franchise, they have hardly put a foot wrong.
The club was put together in no time since July – bringing in coaching staff and players for both the PSL and Diski Challenge.
Once you take all of that into account, coach Eric Tinkler is performing miracles.
The club is level on points with the leaders of the PSL, even though they have played more games than their rivals.
Throw in the Telkom Knockout trophy and you have to really take notice of the men in blue and gold.
Ajax have been less impressive. By ’* moerse hou. They are on to their second coach for the season after Roger de Sa left in October during a run that saw the club wait 10 games before their first win.
New boss Stanley Menzo turned things around and won five of the last eight games last year.
But coming into tomorrow’s kickoff, Ajax are hurting from a 5-0 pak at Wits.
And I can’t help but feel that they have taken their eye off the ball this week.
Firstly, I believe coach Menzo got things wrong in the Wits game. He changed his system from a successful 4-3-3 formation to a 4-2-3-1.
Then there were key personnel changes in the attack with new signing Rodrick Kabwe playing behind striker Tashreeq Morris.
Veteran Nathan Paulse has been in great form this term and would have been a handful for Gavin Hunt’s defenders.
Instead, Morris fluffed his lines in front of goal.
And, secondly, the club have been hyping up the derby for quite some time now.
You can’t blame them for ramping up the excitement for the fans around the game.
But winning against Wits would have made this game all the more mouthwatering.
Hell, maybe not losing by five goals would have given their fans more belief.
Still, it’s a derby. And the old adage ahead of these local battles says that form goes out of the window.
So here’s hoping that Ajax can pull up their socks and find the form that helped them turn their season around.
They have to give City a game. Or the Cape will suffer.