We will have to wait a little while longer for the revival of the battle between ‘football enemies’ Cape Town City and Cape Town Spurs.
I was buzzing with excitement running back memories of the war of words and battles between the ownership groups of the two sides.
Who can forget Benni McCarthy’s “you mustn’t push”? A classic to this day because we all know what the Cape flats legend meant by it!
Spurs could only manage a 1-1 draw against the visiting Tuks at Athlone on Sunday, which has delayed their promotion back to the PSL Premiership and thus the rivalry.
Full-time at Athlone Stadium.#CapeTownSpurs#UrbanWarriors#MotsepeFoundationChampionship#OURYOUTHOURFUTURE pic.twitter.com/ufbKw0KtJM
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) May 14, 2023
This past weekend wasn’t a good one for Cape football all around with only City saving face for the Mother City with their convincing 2-0 victory over Richards Bay in Athlone.
The result leaves the Citizens in fifth place in the standings with 42 points on the board ahead of this Saturday’s season finale against fourth-placed Kaizer Chiefs away at FNB Stadium.
FULL TIME | A brace from Khanyisa Mayo seals the three points for City 🔥
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) May 13, 2023
Thank you to all our fans for bringing the noise to Athlone Stadium! 💙#LoveFNB #SupportCity pic.twitter.com/HfNWf4PXx5
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch and UWC Ladies both lost their matches, while Stellenbosch lost 1-0 against relegation-threatened Maritzburg United, meaning they now have to win against TS Galaxy at Danie Craven this weekend, to make sure that they qualify for the ‘winner takes all’ MTN8 Wafa Wafa next season.
UWC were defeated 3-0 by Mamelodi Sundowns in Tshwane. As a result swap places with the defending champions moving down to second place while Sundowns takes the top spot.
The stage has been set for City to wrap up the season in fine fashion at the Calabash and they won’t need any motivation against the most popular club in the country.
Next Kaizer Chiefs Match!
— Kaizer Chiefs (@KaizerChiefs) May 16, 2023
🏆#DStvPrem
⚽️Kaizer Chiefs vs. Cape Town City FC
👕First Team
🗓Saturday 20 May 2023
🏟FNB Stadium
🕝15h00
📺SuperSport PSL 202
🎟R60 - Ticketpro, Spar: https://t.co/PwObUa8Nko
🎟Family Zone
🚗Toyota Zone#Amakhosi4Life #UnityInAction pic.twitter.com/YAO4olY0SE
Amakhosi are literally bleeding from this year’s PSL battles and their fans made it known to them after this past weekend’s 1-0 defeat against their former coach Gavin Hunt and SuperSport United.
The Chiefs fans showed their ugly side once again after this clash, throwing missiles and one of them hit head coach Arthur Zwane in the head and forced him to miss the post-match conference while being attended to by medics.
The Citizens could put the final nail to their overhyped hosts’ coffin with only two points separating the two sides ahead of this weekend's clash.
Beating Chiefs will certainly feel like winning a championship for Blue and Gold Army who have had their own fair share of struggles in this campaign.
I still can’t believe that the Citizens could finish in the top four. What a turnaround by coach Eric Tinkler se mane!
They took full advantage of their rivals’ slip-ups this year, collecting 26 points from their 16 matches that they have played so far in 2023.
Imagine a win against Chiefs in the last game of the season, and overtaking them to the fourth spot in the table? Their hosts might have a lot of explaining to do to their fans to do when that happened this weekend.
Newly-crowned club Player of the Season, Khanyisa Mayo, will also have extra motivation to light up the 2010 World Cup venue this weekend.
The second-generation high scorer, son of former top scorer Patrick, is tied with Peter Shalulile on 12 goals thanks to his brace at Athlone Stadium this past Saturday.
It was the Citizens last home match for the campaign, confirming his status as the South African with the goals in this campaign.
Why Chiefs coach Zwane decided to only mention Shellie and Sekhukhune’s Victor Letsoalo when he asked about top strikers his club could target and not mention the City hitman is still confusing to me.
This should serve as further motivation for Mayo to stick it to the Amakhosi mentor and their fans and show them what they are missing.
Mayo’s 12 goals makes him the third City player to score 12 or more goals in a single campaign. The others are Lebo Manyama and Kermit Erasmus, who both netted 13 goals each when they were here.
A brace could make the Eastern Cape-born striker the undisputed King of Goals for the Citizens.
Serving up that #MondayMotivation🏆 pic.twitter.com/kYuu6fsWAR
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) May 15, 2023
A special shout out to the other winners at the club’s end of season awards; Taariq Fielies who was named Players’ Player of the Season, Young Player of the Season won by Jaedin Rhodes, Cebolakhe Tshabalala and Mvuseleli Nokwali who both won The Chairman's Award, Keanu Cupido who took home the the Citizen Award and club legend Thabo Nodada who was presented The Long Service award.