Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 7y

Upstarts Cape Town City seek Champions League ticket

Cape Town City seek to cap off a dream maiden season in the Premier Soccer League on Saturday by finishing second in the standings, and thereby qualifying for the African Champions League next year.

But they will have to dig deep against Polokwane City away if they are to stand any chance and must hope that Mamelodi Sundowns, who are one point above them in the standings, fail to beat relegation-threatened Highlands Park at the same time on the last day of the campaign.

Cape Town City coach Eric Tinkler is keen for his side to get to the 2018 edition of the Champions League - less than 12 months since they were formed by purchasing the franchise of Mpumalanga Black Aces.

With an injury depleted squad, he says he knows it will be no easy task against their hosts who look likely to end the campaign in a club record sixth place.

"They are a very good team going forward and their transitional play is also very good. Well structured, well organised defensively so we are, obviously, going to have to be extremely disciplined, especially on the counter.

"You know a lot of teams now approach the game very differently when they play us," said Tinkler, whose side have lethal pace on the counter attack and have used that to good effect this season.

"Teams used to come at us, but now they tend to sit off and wait. We've been trying to work on that over the past week, how do we overcome that situation? But Polokwane's main strength will be on the counter and (Jabu) Maluleke is a huge influence in that squad and someone we have to contain."

Veteran midfielder Maluleke returns from suspension after missed when Polokwane City lost 2-0 at Bidvest Wits in their last match.

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