Ajax are heading for Angola in reluctant about-turn

11 February 2016 - 02:57 By Nick Said

Ajax Cape Town have done an about-turn and will somewhat reluctantly honour their African Confederation Cup fixture against Sagrada Esperanca in Angola on Saturday.The club pulled out of the competition last week citing concerns over the safety of their players and frustrations at a lack of communication from their hosts over internal travel arrangements.But after a meeting with the South African Football Association on Monday, at which the club were threatened with punitive action, they decided to travel after all.This despite the Urban Warriors admitting there were still question-marks over their journey to Dundo in Angola, which is 1200km from the capital, Luanda."After a fruitful meeting between the representatives of Safa and Ajax Cape Town held on Monday, Ajax agreed to withdraw their decision of not playing the CAF match against Sagrada Esperanca on Saturday," the club said.Sagrada Esperanca, which means "sacred hope" in Portuguese, say Ajax will be well looked after in Angola. They are sponsored by Angola state-owned diamond company Endiama.The home side, who returned from a training camp in Namibia on Tuesday, is coached by the Croatian Zoran Mackic, and, until last year, had former Mamelodi Sundowns and FC Cape Town forward Patrick Apataki in their squad.Ajax will leave Cape Town on Friday morning, leaving them little time to acclimatise in Angola.When Ajax coach Roger de Sa took Orlando Pirates to the 2013 African Champions League final he said he preferred to spend as little time in away venues as possible...

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