Food of gluttonous proportions was served to all and sundry at this week’s function to launch the 2005/06 Premier Soccer League (PSL), but the soccer programme itself starts with something more in line of an aperitif when Ajax Cape Town entertain Jomo Cosmos at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday night.
The game also launches four fateful days for Ajax, who meet Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly at the same venue on Sunday, with their prospects of remaining in contention for the African Champions League semifinals very much on the line in this game.
Not surprisingly, ever-optimistic Gordon Igesund says he is looking for two victories from these diverse encounters, but a strong suspicion lurks in the background that the Ajax coach would not be all that unhappy with one victory to keep the club’s prospects of a successful season seemingly well and alive.
Ajax, indeed, are a club walking a tightrope following the loss of a significant sponsor and indications that their proud parent club in Amsterdam are not exactly over the moon at what has been achieved in Cape Town over the past few years.
And a spate of injuries have not made matters any easier for Igesund and his team, with a number of key players, including goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs, listed as doubtful starters for the Cosmos game.
Cosmos, in turn, will want to obliterate the dubious label of being the most disappointing team of the 2004/05 PSL season in which they started off with optimistic pronouncements of challenging strongly for the Premier League championship — yet spent most of the time warding off the threat of relegation.
Club owner and coach Jomo Sono has tried to bolster his squad with a ”mixed bag” of signings, including veteran former Bafana Bafana player Helman Mkhalele and Wits University’s Alois Bunjira, but it remains to be seen whether he will be categorised by the end of the season among those who get appropriately tougher when the going gets tough.
Indications are that most PSL clubs have done a degree of homework during the off-season and those who do not buckle down to the task at hand will assuredly fall by the wayside.
Appropriately, the PSL sponsors pointed out at the launch function that they were around to assist when professional soccer was introduced in South Africa. But they got their dates all wrong. It was 1959, not 1971. — Sapa