Cape Town City are the big Chiefs!
Cape Town City FC proved that they belong in the big league after they dumped Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs out of the MTN8 on Friday.
|||Cape Town City FC belong in the big league! That much was proven at a boisterous Cape Town Stadium on Friday night after they dumped Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs out of the MTN8 with a 1-0 victory.
Australian Matthew Sim netted the winner in the seventh minute as a committed City outfit showed that they can battle with and beat the big boys with an impressive performance against the Amakhosi.
The win comes on the back of a successful debut in the Absa Premiership on Tuesday night at the same venue when they dispatched Polokwane City 2-0.
Eric Tinkler’s team were expected to roll over for their more illustrious opponents on Friday in front of a strong crowd that mainly shouted for Chiefs, but the newcomers gave as good as they got as showed greater creativity on attack and excellent application in defence.
The outstanding duo of captain Lebogang Manyama and striker Bhongolethu Jayiya caused Chiefs endless problems as they mixed up the direction of City’s play from left to right – and sometimes through the middle – with wonderful skill and speed.
And it was the crafty pair who split the Amakhosi defence wide open with a brilliant counter-attack from a Chiefs corner, with Manyama finding Jayiya wide on the right. The former Wits, Maritzburg and Black Aces star took the ball to the byline, and with the Chiefs backline all over the place, he threaded the perfect square ball to the left-hand side of the box, where Sim coolly slotted the ball past Itumeleng Khune.
Chiefs pushed forward after that, but the deep-lying City outfit held firm most of the time. The frustration grew for the Johannesburg side as the likes of Willard Katsande, William Twala and Lewis Macha missed the target.
But City didn’t stop moving up the field when required, though, and they had a great chance to increase their advantage just before halftime when striker Lehlohonolo Majoro slid in at the far-post with Khune in no man’s land, and it was Lorenzo Gordinho who blocked the shot.
Jayiya fired a cracking low effort after the break, and the awkwardly bouncing ball forced Khune to push it out for a corner.
The hard-running Manyama eventually succumbed to what looked like a hamstring problem in the 57th minute, but his replacement Aubrey Ngoma continued the good work of his captain by maintaining the spark on attack with his speed and movement.
Komphela made a number of changes to revitalise his front-line, with Edward Manqele, Pule Ekstein and Emmanuel Letlotlo, and while they had a number of opportunities to get the equaliser, they were denied by outstanding goalkeeping by City’s No 1 Shu-aib Walters, as well as defenders Tshepo Gumede, Renars Rode and Vincent Kobola.
Walters in particular made a number of fantastic saves in the dying minutes, and when the final whistle blew, the Chiefs fans were left shell-shocked while the dream start continues into the semi-finals for City and their chairman John Comitis.
“We took our chance. We want to make Cape Town our fortress and that it’s going to be tough for our opponents,” Walters told SuperSport TV afterwards when receiving the Man-of-the-Match award.
Tinkler added: “I’m proud of the guys!”
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