It was a week to forget for the Cape teams, but at least we know now to lower our expectations for the coming season.
It’s clearly going to be tough 2023/24 campaign for all concerned in the Cape football fraternity.
All the Cape sides lost their league matches this past week and things won’t get easier this week with their schedule seeing them face the three Soweto clubs.
It all began last Wednesday when Cape Town City were defeated 1-0 by Sekhukhune United at Athlone Stadium.
FULL TIME | Just not our day today 🔵
Thank you to our fans. We keep going 👊 pic.twitter.com/qdl8PyRya8
The result led to a pretty awkward exchange between myself and coach Eric Tinkler at the post-match conference.
I tried to engage the coach about the three-man defence that he employs, with two fullbacks Thamsanqa Mkhize and Mark van Heerden, with only one natural centreback Keanu Cupido.
All this while their most-experienced centreback Taariq Fielies, the same one the coach said “offers them so much on the ball” sat on the bench.
The coach dismissed me with: “Did they (Mkhize and Van Heerden) look uncomfortable? I don’t know what you’re talking about”.
I guess he’s going to insist with the three-man defence until further notice.
City had a date with Orlando Pirates last night at Orlando Stadium and will welcome the upcoming MTN8 and international break to regroup.
FULL TIME | Defeat at Orlando Stadium.
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) August 29, 2023
☠️ 2-0 💙 #iamCityFC pic.twitter.com/lw9FHbQCgU
Stellenbosch were also beaten this week, 2-1 by SuperSport United at a half full Danie Craven Stadium.
Stellies started the game so well and looked like they were in control going into the break, after they’d taken the lead through Jayden Adams.
Their visitors however capitalised from a questionable penalty call through Gamphani Lungu with Grant Margeman scoring the second to finish the job.
Kaizer Chiefs are next on their agenda at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night.
It’s Match Day! 😁
🏆 #DStvPrem
🗓️ Today, 30 Aug
🆚 @KaizerChiefs
🏟️ Athlone Stadium
🕒 19h30
🎟️ R80. Ticketpro / SPAR outlets#StellenboschFC 🍇 pic.twitter.com/eC696LIVxr
They will need to be careful however, as Chiefs celebrated during their last visit where they beat City 1-0 to progress to the semi-finals of the Wafa Wafa.
Meanwhile, the heat is dialling up there at Ikamva, with their season’s points budget thrown off has completely following their forgettable run of four matches without a win.
The Urban Warriors have already faced TS Galaxy, Sekhukhune United, Polokwane City as well as Chippa United and they have managed to just score one goal and concede seven.
These were matches that were marked with a large green bold capital W as possible wins or draw at worst on the white board with the match schedule.
Good game Warriors, better result next time. 🛡️#CAPETOWNSPURS#URBANWARRIORS#PSL#DSTVPREMIERSHIP#OURYOUTHOURFUTURE pic.twitter.com/l2p2LZ0MvJ
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) August 25, 2023
Things haven’t exactly worked out as planned though and head coach Shaun Bartlett is the first to admit it because his team is not playing bad at all.
He tells me: “I’ve been really pleased with the performances of the past two games, but unfortunately we have nothing to show for it.
“It’s the small margins that will make the massive difference. Our players have now realised that we can outplay our opposition but we’ve got to take our chances.
“It’s 12 points lost but our primary goal for this season was to stay in the Dstv Premiership, if it means finishing in position 14 we’re going to have to accept that and build from that for the seasons that follow.”
Spurs need to now adjust their points budget for the games coming in this year and ease the pressure on themselves to get points during the second round of matches in 2024.
They are paying the price of qualifying via the playoffs which was a rollercoaster of three extra weeks of serious competition.
I like to call it the ‘playoffs hangover’, where a lot of teams wake up too late or not at all and they go straight back down as a result. Or worse, they contest the playoffs again and still go down.
The playoffs means that they couldn’t renew contracts or beef up their squad until promotion was secured.
It was a tough place to be in and to plan, because of the major differences and budgets in the different leagues.
That’s all while everyone else took a break and had started sorting out their squads for the new season.
It also didn’t help that they also didn’t tour as much to test their squad against their peers in the different conditions around the country.
🚨PSL ROUND 5🚨
— Cape Town Spurs FC (@CapeTownSpursFC) August 30, 2023
Moroka Swallows vs Cape Town Spurs ⚽️
Dobsonville Stadium 🏟️
Wednesday, 30 August - 19:30pm 🕒#CAPETOWNSPURS#URBANWARRIORS#PSL#DSTVPREMIERSHIP#OURYOUTHOURFUTURE#CAPETOWN#SOUTHAFRICA pic.twitter.com/g4u0HyReAu
Here we are now, they’re sitting rock bottom with 0 points on the board ahead of tonight’s clash against Moroka Swallows at Dobsonville Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm).
Bartlett is really concerned not just about their position and the lack of points, but more about his team’s ridiculously low conversation rate.
He adds: “This start hasn’t been ideal for us as a team and as a club, we obviously hoping to have some points on the board by now.
“Maybe our players got a rude awakening as to what it’s actually about playing in the DStv Premiership.
“We achieved our goal of promotion, but now it’s about making sure, stabilising and sustaining that status in the Premiership.
“We’ve got a massive game against Moroka Swallows, for us it’s nothing but points in that game.”
Looking ahead to September ✊💙 pic.twitter.com/OKKYpKTeQp
It’s not like they have a choice as there will be a two-week break after that, with the MTN8 semifinals taking centre-stage before we go straight to the international break.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za