Cape Town City tactician Eric Tinkler believes their MTN8 quarter-final clash against Kaizer Chiefs is a foregone conclusion and is rather concerned about the next DStv Premiership assignment.
Tinkler does not doubt that CT City will pull all the stops in order to beat Chefs, insinuating that his troops need no motivation to do well against a team of Amakhosi’s stature.
However, Tinkler is uncertain as to whether his men will be able to ‘refocus’ and quickly shift gears for their SuperSport United clash five days later.
It seems Tinkler doesn’t want to make the mistake of letting the MT8 competition and Chiefs take the focus away from looking at the bigger picture, which he says is to compete with the big boys in the DStv Premiership.
The Cape-based side has had a good start to the new season with back-to-back league wins against returnees Polokwane City and Moroka Swallows.
Last season CT City struggled to get out of the starting blocks but moved into a higher gear to finish fourth in the league. Tinkler wants his charges to do better than the previous campaign.
LEAGUE MORE IMPORTANT FOR COACH ERIC TINKLER
“Two clean sheets in a row, which is a positive start to the season. Two games played, and we are on six points,” said Tinkler in Soweto. “You have to understand that it’s going to be a long league, a long road to travel.
“And if you want to be competing at the highest level, you got to be picking up points, especially away to teams like Swallows.
“We can’t afford to drop points going into an MTN8 game where at least you going in there now knowing that you’re confident, the morale high, we’ve collected the three points.
“The Cup is four or five games, and you find yourself in a final. So the hunger, the desire, I think sometimes is more for them [players] than what it is for the league. “So I’m 150% sure the guys are going to be up for it come Sunday for the game against Chiefs.
“That game [Chiefs] is not really my concern, that next one against SuperSport United, away [from home] on Friday night. Can we ensure that we put on a good performance against Chiefs and then refocus again in the league because the league is just as important if not more important?”
CT City will tackle Chiefs on Sunday, 13 August, at Athlone Stadium in a potentially thrilling MTN8 quarter-final clash.
Chiefs are still searching for their first piece of silverware since the 2014/15 season, while CT City also aims to end their trophy drought, having last won a trophy in the 2018/19 campaign.
RELATED STORY: Ex-Chiefs and Pirates coach eyes Zim national team job
