Cape Town City upbeat ahead of Kaizer Chiefs clash – Riekerink explains why

Amakhosi have beaten the Citizens in the last five encounters the north-south rivals have played in, including league and cup competition

It will be a rejuvenated Cape Town City who square up to Kaizer Chiefs in a league encounter at the FNB Stadium on Wednesday evening.

City head into Wednesday’s clash in Soweto – a 17:00 kick-off – sitting above Chiefs on the league standings – the Cape side are seventh with 30 points and the Glamour Boys are ninth with 25 points.

However, City have not been in good form over the past few months and had gone eight matches in all competitions without a win until their 3-0 victory over SuperSport United in their most recent outing, on April 10 in the Mother City.

Their coach, Jan Olde Riekerink, is hopeful that the win over Matsatsantsa could be a catalyst for improved fortunes and that it will have boosted his side’s confidence ahead of the Amakhosi clash.

“I think it was very important that we had the result in the last game against SuperSport. We played very good football and finally it resulted in goals and we didn’t concede any,” the Netherlands-born coach was quoted saying on IOL.

“For the morale side of things it was very important that game. We know we end the season in a very good way, so let’s focus on that. If you see the fixtures, besides Sundowns in our last game, we are all facing teams that are below us. If we have the ambition we can show it in these games.”

That said, Olde Riekerink is also wary of a Chiefs side who seem to be on the up.

“We know that Kaizer Chiefs is a big team with a big history and they have a good squad. We are aware of their qualities,” he continued.

“I also think that they have also only lost once in the last nine games. They are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. And they also have ambitions to be in the top eight.

“It is also an important phase for them in the competition, so it will be two teams with ambition, so hopefully we will go out and get the result in the way we played against SuperSport.”

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