Ernst Middendorp, head coach of Cape Town Spurs before the Motsepe Foundation Championship 2024/25 game between Cape Town Spurs and Casric Stars at Athlone Stadium on 10 January 2025 © Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
The Mother City clubs, Cape Town Spurs and Stellenbosch FC, will kickstart this week’s Nedbank Cup's last-16 round fixtures.
Relegation-doomed Spurs were thrashed 3-0 by Black Leopards in a Motsepe Foundation Championship match played at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday afternoon. They find themselves languishing at the bottom of the NFD.
They are on the road again to face Premiership side SuperSport United on Wednesday evening (kick-off 7pm).
It will be a daunting task for Spurs' German coach Ernst Middendorp to motivate his charges to shake off this defeat and bounce back at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
Gavin Hunt's SuperSport seem to have found some spark in-front of goals with a raft of new attacking options in the team following recruitments during the last transfer window. Despite this, they will come up against a stubborn Spurs side that will be armed with Middendorp's blueprint.
Their last clash in the Nedbank Cup was in 2015 when Spurs, then known as Ajax Cape Town, edged a thrilling semi-final 2-1. This is a battle between two pragmatic coaches, and it might not be pretty.
Spurs were beaten finalists in 2015 but generally have disappointed in this competition, reaching the quarter-finals only twice in their past 15 appearances. They have one semi-final showing, three exits in the last-16 round, and were knocked out in the first round 10 times.
SuperSport claimed back-to-back wins in the 2016 and 2017 Nedbank Cup finals.
Western Cape fans will have far more hope for Stellenbosch, who have made the Nedbank Cup semi-finals in the last two seasons. However, they were made to sweat in the previous round as they came from behind to defeat second-tier Kruger United at the Danie Craven Stadium.
Stellenbosch will be up against fellow Premiership rivals Polokwane City on Thursday at the Danie Craven Stadium. The Polokwane visitors were also not all that convincing in the opening round against third-tier outfit The Bees, as they won 1-0 at home.
The last time Stellenbosch and Polokwane met in the Winelands, striker Iqraam Rayners scored all five goals as Stellies ran out 5-0 winners. However, Rayners has since joined Sundowns.
Earlier this season, they drew 1-1 in a league clash in Limpopo in September. Overall, Stellies lead their head-to-head 4-1 with one draw.
Polokwane reached the quarter-finals in 2013 and 2016 but did not advance further.
This season, Polokwane has struggled away from home, with two wins in 10 ties against minnows Island FC (7-2) in 2013 and Platinum Stars in 2016. Both those victories were in the last-16 round.