This week is an opportunity for Cape Town City to make a statement about who they are this season, with Orlando Pirates coming to visit on Saturday afternoon.
The match will be played at Danie Craven Stadium, which is so weird because that’s Stellenbosch’s home venue. It’s a head scratcher, but hey we are here now, ouens.
Pirates are not only a team playing with real intentions, but they also look like a team that has a lot of character as they again scored in the dying minutes against Baroka on Saturday.
They drew the match 1-1, but the way they made substitutions and kept fighting until the end should be highlighted to the team by City’s Jan Olde Riekerink.
The Citizens’ mentor might want to channel that inner Dutch-versus-German rivalry through to his charges this week.
I’d say he should even consider putting the Buccaneers coach Josef Zinnbauer on a dartboard in his office as inspiration.
City are sixth which is a massive improvement from last season’s disastrous start, but I still can’t make out what type of team they are or what to get excited about.
This is a team that everyone looks at to bring trophies to the Mother City, so we need them to show us what they are made of so that we figure what to expect from them in this campaign.
This weekend’s clash against the Soweto giants is exactly that kind of opportunity they need to say: “We are here!”.
There’s no real pressure on Stellenbosch as yet, but surely sitting 12th in the league table is not where they should be with the type of squad they have.
They made some really good signings to, at least, be in the top-eight mix.
I travelled back from Jozi with them on Sunday while they were still taking in their 3-0 defeat against champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
They conceded in the sixth minute and it was downhill from there as new signings Peter Shalulile, former City striker Kermit Erasmus and Themba Zwane made sure of victory in a match they chose to honour the late Anele Ngcongca.
Coach Steve Barker has some thinking to do in his effort to get his side back on track. It’s not a bad thing to lose away against Downs, so it’s not all that bad and it’s still early days.
They have a date with new boys TS Galaxy at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
That’s a team that is sort of at their level in terms of legacy and success in the top flight, so it’s a match they should mark as important on their season calendar.
Let’s wait and see!