Hard choices for Ajax

24 April 2015 - 02:01 By Nick Said

Roger de Sa has admitted to a few sleepless nights as he plans his Ajax Cape Town team for the Nedbank Cup semifinal against SuperSport United tomorrow. The worry for the coach is who to leave out rather than trying to find the right qualities to match an attacking Matsatsantsa side who have already collected the Telkom Knockout trophy this season.De Sa fielded a changed team in Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Free State Stars in the league, but says he saw enough in that game to make him ponder his best 11 for the SuperSport clash."It's not easy, to be honest. Many of them put their hand up and contributed to the team, guys like Dominic Isaacs and Lance Davids who have not played a lot this season," De Sa said."I will just have to choose the 11 and go with it. You do look at things like previous form and what they have done against this opposition in the past. As a coach you just hope you make the right call."One big boost for De Sa is the return to fitness of key defender Abbubaker Mobara, who missed the Stars game with a knee ligament injury but is fit to play.The 20-year-old will resume his partnership with teenager Rivaldo Coetzee, and De Sa says the youthful age of his squad could be a big bonus."These young boys have won numerous youth tournaments already; they have the taste for blood," De Sa said. "And they have matured so quickly. I sat here a year ago with a young boy like Rivaldo Coetzee who was 17 and new to the PSL. Now 12 months later he has six Bafana Bafana caps or whatever and is on the brink of a major cup final, with the team hopefully going to finish in the top eight."De Sa is hopeful that both Ajax and Vasco da Gama, who are away at Mamelodi Sundowns in the second semifinal on Sunday, can pull off wins and set up the prospect of an all-Cape Town final."We want to do the city proud. Cape Town is a city that has produced so many great players."..

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