Thanda Royal Zulu v FC Cape Town
DURBAN, May 23 (Absa Premier League) – Thanda Royal Zulu will be looking for fighters to lead them to victory in the first-leg of their relegation play-off semi-final tie against FC Cape Town on Sunday, according to assistant coach Johan Eriksson.
The Amabhubesi face the First Division Coastal Stream side at the SJ Smith Stadium in Durban and defeat could see the end of their Absa Premier League hopes.
Mlungisi Ngubane’s team ended the regular season on the slide after slipping into the relegation zone in the closing few weeks to finish 15th, level on points with Bloemfontein Celtic, who stayed in the top-flight league only on goal difference.
“The boys know it’s a knockout and if we don’t win, then we’re out and we’re playing in the First Division next season,” said Eriksson. “So needless to say, it’s a very, very important tie.
“We’re playing at home first, so we’d like not to concede and score as many as possible.
“We need to try and make sure we get the guys out there on the field that are fighters – the ones that are going to fight for the team.”
Our boys have spent the week at ‘secret’ training camp and Eriksson revealed that all the planning has now been concluded.
He continued: “The team spirit is excellent. We’ve been putting a lot in over the past few days.
“We’ve gone away to camp, obviously, we’ve been eating healthy, sleeping early and we’re monitoring everything like that so everybody gets exactly what they need in order to perform.”
Reflecting on our opponents, the Swede added: “We know quite a bit about them and been studying them carefully.
“Obviously we have Paul Matthews, our assistant coach, who has played in the same division and is familiar with them.
“Our coach Prof is also very familiar with them and I’ve seen them a few times, so we know what to expect.”
Meanwhile, FC Cape Town boss Johnny Ferreira is hoping to use the underdog status to their advantage.
 “We’re looking forward to the match very much. It’s a big challenge – we’ve got nothing to lose and they’ve got everything to lose,” he said.
“Our preparations have been a little bit hampered by the rain in Cape Town in the last two weeks. So we hope this hasn’t affected our match fitness and match sharpness, but we’re looking forward to the match in a very big way.”
And Ferreira, whose side finished runners-up in the Coastal Stream, will be hoping to exploit Thanda’s frail defence, which was the worst in the league after they let through 58 goals.
He added: “They’ve scored the third most goals in the PSL and they’ve also conceded the most goals. So I hope it doesn’t work whereby they go rampant and demoralise us with their fire power and hopefully we can expose a little bit of their defensive frailties – so it’s a little cat and mouse game we will be playing.
“I like Professor Ngubane’s approach to football, he’s always played a three man frontline, which he have to be careful of. The strategy will be to try and get a goal and hang on to it, whether we draw or win, but we can’t afford to lose that game in Durban on Sunday.