The 'foreign legion' could steal the thunder when Sekhukhune United lock horns with their Betway Premiership rivals Cape Town City in Monday evening's Nedbank Cup clash at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.
The visiting Capetonians will have Darwin Gonzalez, the Venezuelan attacker, running their attack. He sat out the club's previous match but has regained fitness and was in the tour group that flew out from the Mother City on Sunday. Sekhukhune will have done their research and noticed that Gonzalez was City's destroyer-in-chief, having done a demolition job on Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates by scoring the only goals in those matches.
Cape Town City coach Muhsin Ertugral will expect him to spearhead City's hopes of advancing to the round of 16.
Andy Boyeli, the DRC forward, is Sekhukhune's dangerman. He netted a hat-trick to guide Sekhukhune to a 3-0 victory over SuperSport United last week. He is arguably the most in-form striker in the country and will be confident of propelling the Limpopo hosts to the Nedbank Cup round of 16, having scored four goals in his last three matches.
His Sekhukhune coach, Lehlohonolo Seema, is more concerned about the threat posed by the highly experienced coach Ertugral.
“Coming to Cape Town City, it’s a very difficult one since they have one of the experienced coaches," said Seema. "They’ve been getting good results. We are really up for it, and let’s see on Monday what happens.”
Sekhukhune came close to winning their first major trophy when they reached the 2023 Nedbank Cup final and then lost to Orlando Pirates. They will hope to enjoy another cup run in this competition and win it this season.
Seema's charges succumbed to a 1-0 away defeat to Kaizer Chiefs on 19 January, and their five-match unbeaten run in the Betway Premiership came to an end after registering four victories and one draw.
At around the same time, City bounced back to winning ways when they claimed a 2-1 win over Richards Bay at home on 17 January, prior to which the Citizens' two-match unbeaten run in the Premiership had come to an end. City possesses cup pedigree, having won the MTN8 and Telkom Knockout (Carling Knockout), but their best performance in the Nedbank Cup came in 2018 and 2019 when they reached the quarterfinals.
City midfielder Fortune Makaringe said the team is hungry for more cup success.
“We've got a thrilling fixture against Sekhukhune. It's a fixture that we are familiar with. We know we must go to the next round and take it from there," said Makaringe. "But the hunger to win cups is there, so we see the Nedbank Cup as another chance for us to try to achieve something.”
Both Sekhukhune and City have suspension issues going into this encounter.
City will be without Amadou Soukouna, who was suspended for one match. Sekhukhune will be without Trésor Yamba due to a one-match suspension, while Vuyo Letlapa will also be absent after being sent off against Chiefs.
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch FC will host Kruger United in their Nedbank Cup round of 32 clash at the Danie Craven Stadium in Coetzenburg, Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch are looking forward to the match because, for the first time in weeks, the club will finally play at their Stellenbosch headquarters of Danie Craven Stadium. | Independent Media Sport