Carling Knockout Cup kicks off as Clubs return from African campaigns

Following a busy weekend of CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup fixtures across Africa, the focus of the domestic season shifts to the start of the Carling Knockout Cup.

The fourth edition featuring the 16 Betway Premiership Clubs gets under way this weekend with some mouthwatering fixtures.

However, this competition comes at a time when some clubs are already confronted with fixture congestion, and they’ll have to juggle carefully to keep all the balls in the air.

This past weekend, South Africa’s elite clubs had tough assignments in the CAF Interclub competitions. These fixtures followed midweek Betway Premiership matches.

And now this weekend, the focus shifts to the Carling Knockout Cup, the second domestic cup competition on the calendar after the conclusion of the MTN8 just more than a week ago.

But first, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates will have more CAF Champions League second preliminary round action to contend with. They welcome their visitors, Wiliete S.C of Angola and Namibian club, African Stars, for the second preliminary round on Friday evening respectively.

“It’s a tough one, it will come in between two tough matches because we will be playing the second qualifying round of the champions league and we have to play Durban City for the PSL, three four matches we have before then high level, but it’s our reality and we have to do well and as best as we can, and for sure we welcome Marumo Gallants to play this tournament and do as well, we will try our best and for sure to win the prestigious tournament.” Says Miguel Cardoso, Mamelodi Sundowns coach.

Meanwhile, Kaizer Chiefs coach, Fernando Da Cruz’s prowess will be put to test in this year’s Carling Cup. Chiefs have won the historical league cup a record 13 times. And after missing out on the MTN8 earlier in the season, the Frenchman is the man expected to end their 11-year title drought.

“For me it will be the first time in the Carling Cup, I hope it will be a very good story, for the club because in the past it was a good story for the club and in this cup.” says Da Cruz.

However, Amakhosi who start the Carling Knockout with a match against TS Galaxy, are misfiring at the moment. They are 5th on the Premiership log with just one win and four draws from their last five matches.

And this past weekend, they suffered a 1-nil defeat against Zambia’s Red Arrows in the second qualifying round of the CAF Confederation Cup.

“It’s difficult to choose one objective, our only objective is to win the next game, so we cannot choose one competition, all the competitions are important, all the games are important.” Da Cruz elaborates.

And to make matters a little more stressful, Chiefs also have the much-anticipated Soweto Derby against Orlando Pirates on the horizon. That match takes place on the 31st of this month at the FNB Stadium. -Reporting by Mahudi Molapo