Posted in News on Feb 28, 2008.
Muhsin Ertugral will be looking to use the fact that he was previously the Ajax coach to help guide Chiefs through to victory. It must be said that the Chiefs coach is aware of the task his team faces. After seemingly getting back to winning ways with a victory over BidVest Wits last Wednesday, the good work done against the Students was undone as Chiefs went down by a single goal to SuperSport United on Saturday evening.
In what will be their third game against one of the form teams in the league in consecutive matches, Chiefs will need to put up the kind of performance they did against Wits and grabbed the goal scoring chances when they present themselves. In their previous game against SuperSport, chances did come their way but they were unable to turn them.
While Chiefs have lost two, drawn and won one of the four games they have played since the league resumed in the middle of February, Ajax come into the match in the middle of a purple patch having collected the full compliments of points off their four games. Wins over Bloemfontein Celtic, Black Leopards, Thanda Royal Zulu and Jomo Cosmos have helped Ajax go four points clear atop the league standings.
This season so far
In late September Chiefs played host to Ajax at the Vodacom Loftus Stadium in Tshwane. Russell Mwafulirwa scored the game's only goal after seven minutes as he made the most of a slip up in the Chiefs defense and hit the ball home from close range. It was the first time in almost six years that Ajax had defeated Chiefs in a league game - with the Urban Warriors previous victory over Chiefs coming way back in October 2001 when Ajax managed to defeat Chiefs 2-1. Once more though it was the story of Chiefs not being able to drive home the advantage and let the opposition off with a number of close range misses, Mabhudi Khenyeza could not put the ball in the back of the net from close range in the first half. While Kaizer Junior’s sliding in effort could not make contact with a pass late in the second half.
Ertugral Reunion
Ertugral will face the team who he helped revive with two cup final appearances last season after they had gone many seasons without much success. He gets reunited with his old friends on Saturday afternoon in Cape Town and the best way to celebrate that reunion would be with a convincing win over Ajax.
Ertugral is not much concerned with the fact that his charges will come up against the league leaders as he told kaizerchiefs.com “we are aware that it is going to be a very challenging encounter for us. Ajax are first in the league but that really does not mean that we go there disheartened, our job is get the win and stick to the basics. We not going to keep any secrets or hold back because we have to play them in a Cup match soon, no we are aiming to win the match and show that we can take points off the front runners in the title race”.
Results Kaizer Chiefs Vs Ajax Cape Town since 1999 – 2000
1999 – 2000
Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Khumalo) Ajax Cape Town 2
Ajax Cape Town 1 Kaizer Chiefs 0
2000-2001
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Ajax Cape Town 0
Ajax Cape Town 3 Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Nomvete, Illodigwe)
2001-2002
Ajax Cape Town 2 Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Sithole)
Kaizer Chiefs 3 (Richards, Mabedi pen, Fredericks) Ajax Cape Town 1
2002-2003
Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Fredericks) Ajax Cape Town 1
Ajax Cape Town 0 Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Fredericks, Mussasa)
2003-2004
Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Dlamini) Ajax Cape Town 0
Ajax Cape Town 0 Kaizer Chiefs 0
2004-2005
Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Zwane x2) Ajax Cape Town 2
Ajax Cape Town 1 Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Mbesuma, Radebe)
2005-2006
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Ajax Cape Town 0
Ajax Cape Town 2 Kaizer Chiefs 2 (Nzama, Mototo)
2006 – 2007
Ajax Cape Town 0 Kaizer Chiefs 0
Kaizer Chiefs 1 (Nkosi) Ajax Cape Town 0
Kaizer Chiefs Vs Ajax Cape Town Head to Head since 1999 – 2000
2007 - 2008
Kaizer Chiefs 0 Ajax Cape Town 1
P | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ajax | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 18 | -2 |
