Ajax Cape Town will continue to go in search of their first Absa Premiership win when they host an undefeated Mamelodi Sundowns side at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday evening, kick-off at 7pm.
The Urban Warriors were outsmarted by Robin Ngalande’s only strike of the match on Friday evening which recorded a 1-0 win for Bidvest Wits, leaving the Clever Boys the only team in the league not to have conceded a goal.
The defeat meant that Ajax are still without a league win in three domestic matches, making their match against an in-form Brazilian side even more crucial and daunting.
“Sundowns are a good team and, if you ask me, they have the best individual players in the league, but at the end of the day football is a team sport,” says Ajax striker Nathan Paulse.
“I think it is a great opportunity to go out there, playing at home, and show the fans that we can fight against them [Sundowns] as a team.
“I think in the first game at home, what we didn’t do, even if we weren’t playing well, is that we didn’t fight as a team which we will have to change.”
He added: “For me, I have always enjoyed playing for Ajax at home against the big teams. It is your chance as a player, and as a team, to go and show your fans and family who you are and what you can do. It is a chance to show the rest of the PSL.”
Last season, a lot of criticism was thrown about accusing the Sundowns side of being too individualistic, and Paulse believes that a team effort is what will bring their next adversaries down.
“It is quite hard to point to which players we need to watch. As I said, irrespective of how good they are individually; if we can help each other as a team I am sure we will be able to stop any of them,” added Paulse.
“In 2007 with Ajax I played four games against them and we won each time, so they are a big team on paper, but it just goes to show we can win.”
Meanwhile, Sundowns haven’t featured since their 1-0 win over Golden Arrows on August 31, but they continue to remain undefeated in the league with two wins and a draw.
Goalkeeper, Kennedy Mweene, admits they would have liked to avoid the break but it has given them time to thoroughly prepare for their trip to the Mother City.
“We haven’t played a game since Golden Arrows, but we have to live with it. We would have liked to continue playing but it wasn’t to be,” says the Zambian.
“However, we have been training hard and we have continued to work. It will be tricky against Ajax even if they haven’t won yet.
“We know what to expect, we have done our homework.”
Mweene added: “They have a lot of youngsters which we know, like [Keagan] Dollie and [Lebogang] Manyama, and we know, at any given time, they can surprise.
“We don’t want that to happen and we have been preparing as a team. It is going to be tough and we have to be mentally tough.
“It will be an interesting game because we know they are different to last season. We cannot take advantage of that though- we have to be level headed and respect them.
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