City confident going into quarterfinal
|Published
LIFT GAME: Vasili Manousakis. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix. LIFT GAME: Vasili Manousakis. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix.
Cape Town City are happy to enter Sunday’s Nedbank Cup quarterfinal match against Kaizer Chiefs at 3 pm as underdogs.
According to assistant coach Vasili Manousakis, Amakhosi’s fans will give them the edge at the Mbombela Stadium.
But with City it’s a case of the bigger the challenge, the better they seem to play.
City love nothing more than to mix it with and beat the so-called heavyweights of South African football.
They have seen off Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns, as well as former pacesetters Wits in the league this year, the three come-from-behind victories to cancel out first-round losses earned through sheer guts and determination.
It’s this kind of mindset that puts City in with a realistic chance of being the only top-tier team in with a shot at landing a treble this season.
Benni McCarthy’s charges have already been crowned MTN8 champions and now have their sights set on the league and Nedbank Cup honours.
And Manousakis says: “We’ve been 150% focused on the cup and look forward to the showdown with Amakhosi at the Mbombela Stadium.
“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.
CHALLENGE: Craig Martin (right). Photo: Samuel Shivambu/Backpagepix.
“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.
“But now it’s a one-off encounter and we haven’t planned to exit the competition.
“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.”
City’s defence kept a clean sheet last time out in the goalless home draw with Polokwane City in the league which might tempt McCarthy to choose the same back four, with captain Thami Mkhize, Edmilson Dove, Ebrahim Seedat and Taariq Fielies the incumbents.