Cape Town City will square up against Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs in Sunday’s MTN8 clash at Athlone Stadium in the Mother City.
Football is a funny old game.
At the start of last season, Cape Town City were winless and with just two points from five matches heading into their clash with Kaizer Chiefs.
Nobody gave the Citizens any chance, yet Eric Tinkler’s side began their season turnaround with a 2-0 victory over the Amakhosi that ultimately led to a top-four finish.
Twelve months on and it’s City who have raced out of the starting blocks in the DStv Premiership season.
Two 1-0 victories have garnered them six points, and they are level at the top of the table with defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns as the only teams with a 100% record.
ALSO READ: Kaizer Chiefs need a fast start against Cape Town City in MTN8 cup ‘sprint’
At the other end of the scale, Chiefs have battled in their opening two matches under new coach Molefi Ntseki, with the former Bafana Bafana mentor already feeling the pressure from the long-suffering Amakhosi fans.
City captain Thamsanqa Mkhize is an old warhorse though, and because of how his team flicked a switch last year, he is wary of the wounded famous gold and black, especially with Sunday’s encounter at Athlone Stadium (3pm kick-off) being the MTN8 quarter-final, where the form book gets thrown out of the window.
🗣️“The good start we’ve had is encouraging but we can't be overconfident and rely on that. We still have to work very hard to ensure we get the result and progress to the next round”
Captain Thami Mkhize ahead of Chiefs 🙌💙 pic.twitter.com/sxxYZFwoCn
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) August 12, 2023
“We mustn’t look at Chiefs’ record since the start of the season and think that it will be an easy game. We know that Chiefs is a big club and they haven’t been winning cups in a long time, and they want to make their supporters happy,” Mkhize said.
“Obviously that means it won’t be an easy game. Even though I could say ‘so far so good’, because we started the season well and managed to collect six points, but that shouldn’t make us go blind and think that we are in the right space.”
At 34, the veteran defender is approaching the twilight of his career.
He has achieved his ambition of playing international football, having earned five Bafana Bafana caps, and his focus is solely on embossing his legacy at the club he has made 250 appearances for.
And that can only be achieved through adding more silverware to the trophies he’s already claimed with City.
“It’s important (for my legacy at the club) – I don’t want to lie. (But) what’s more important is playing for a team that have ambitions to win cups, the league and challenge for all the honours,” he said.
“At the end of the day, those rewards can reward you at the end of your career because you can then be able to share your history with your kids.
“I can only explain to them when they see and ask me about trophies. ‘Dad, what was happening here?’ Then you can share your history with your kids.
“It pleases me a lot to be part of a club that wins trophies. I know that I won’t play football forever, but by the time I retire, I must retire knowing that I have done everything, and by God’s grace, I was able to win cups.”
Mkhize will marshal the City defence alongside fellow veteran Marc van Heerden and Keanu Cupido, who will hope to keep the expensively assembled Chiefs strike-force of Ranga Chivaviro, Ashley du Preez and Pule Mmodi at bay.
