Vuvuzela South Africa

Ajax Cape Town have announced the appointment of Foppe de Haan as their new head coach following the departure of Muhsin Ertugral for Turkish Super League side Sivasspor.

The Right Man for the Urban Warriors

Urban Warriors CEO George Comitis revealed in a statement on Thursday afternoon: “After a long deliberation and thorough analysis of all the applications that we have received, we believe that we have found the right man to steer us forward.” Reports football 365.co.za

Foppe de Haan (66) has experienced much success as the former coach of Dutch SC Heerenveen and the Netherlands national under-21 team. He brought SC Heerenveen back to the Eredivisie in 1993 and managed to reach second place in the Dutch Premier Division, “de Eredivisie,” with Heerenveen in 2000. This led the team to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.

Head Coach of Netherlands U21 Team

Following his stint at SC Heerenveen, Foppe de Haan was successively appointed as head coach of the Netherlands national under-21 football team. He led the team to victory in the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

In 2008 he coached the Dutch team to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics football tournament for the first time in their history, leading his side to the quarterfinals where they were ultimately defeated by Argentina after extra time.

“Mr de Haan will be arriving tomorrow evening and will remain with Ajax Cape Town until after the MTN8 Cup Final after which he will return to Holland to tie-up his business affairs before returning to South Africa. He will start officially in November and remain until the end of the season by which time we will have decided on the way forward with his input,”concluded Comitis.

Photo: Foppe de Haan, football356.co.za

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Muhsin Ertugral has quit Ajax Cape Town. Urban Warriors CEO George Comitis said that the Turkish-born coach is leaving for  Sivasspor, which finished second behind Besiktas in the Turkish League last year.

In the interim, Jan Pruijn will oversee the team over the next couple of weeks until they announce a new Head Coach.

Photo: Mushin Ertugral

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Steven Pienaar

Ajax Cape Town’s Franklin Cale, who has been shining in the PSL, will join the Bafana Bafana squad in place of the injured Steven Pienaar for their two friendlies against Iceland and Norway.

The Ajax Cape Town winger was unable to honour his debut call-up for the national team against Madagascar last month due to a foot injury.

Everton Portsmouth Match

Ironically, it was a hefty tackle from none other than Bafana Captain, Aaron Mokoena that flattened Pienaar and injured his knee when Everton played Portsmouth recently.

So what is in store for Bafana, up north in the cold, where matches are played at almost freezing point? According to BBC Weather, it will be snowing in Reykjavik, Iceland this weekend and the temperature will be around 3C.

If they come home with two more defeats to add to the six they have already chalked up., one can safely speculate that coach Joel Santana will be on the first place to Rio se Janeiro. But if they win… well that is another story

Photo: Steven Pienaar from Kickoff.com

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Well Ajax Cape Town didn’t quite get the three goal haul against Platinum Stars that they hoped for at the Moruleng Stadium last night, but the Urban Warriors managed a remarkable 1 – 0 victory over the misfiring Tycoons in an Absa Premiership match.

Ajax Cape Town 1 – Platinum Stars 0

Dipsy Selolwane - Ajax Striker

Platinum Stars launched the ball at the goal enough times to no avail.

Ajax striker Dipsy Selolwane scored the only goal of the game in the second half to give the visitors three points.

Stars Let Down by Their Finishing

Just like they have done in the past four games where they failed to score, Stars looked impressive in their general play only to be let down by their finishing.

In the closing stages Stars threw everything they had at Ajax but they just could not beat their defence and remain in 14th place while the winners move up to third on the Premiership table.

Golden Arrows 1- AmaZulu 0

At the Chatsworth Stadium in Durban, it was a repeat of the two Wafa Wafa matches, when Golden Arrows took down AmaZulu 1-0.

AmaZulu coach Neil Tovey’s disastrous season continues. Richard Henyekane scored the only goal of the game to give Arrows their third victory against AmaZulu this season.

AmaZulu’s Sixth Defeat

According the PSL website, Tovey’s men did come agonizingly close to salvaging a point three minutes from time. Former Black Leopards striker Myron Shongwe rose above the Arrows defence to head home a Marc Van Heerden cross but it hit the woodwork.

This was AmaZulu’s sixth defeat of the season and they are bottom of the Premiership table with only five points.

Photo: Dipsy Selolwane, Ajax Striker – PSL Website

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Two midweek matches take place to kick off Gameweek 9 in the PSL ABSA Premiership. AmaZulu will play Golden Arrows in a local derby at the Chatsworth Stadium in Durban and Ajax Cape Town will travel to the Royal Bafokeng Stadium to meet Platinum Stars.

AmaZulu v Golden Arrows

Wednesday night at the wet Chatsworth Stadium is a good night for a local derby as AmaZulu will be looking to avenge the two defeats they suffered at the hands of Golden Arrows in the MTN8.
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Usuthu were beaten by their neighbours twice in the space of six days in the cup and now have the chance make up for the losses and gain some vital points in the process.

On the AmaZulu website, Coach Neil Tovey says he is hopeful of a better showing from his troops on Wednesday evening.

“We have had a chat with the players – the whole technical team in trying to iron out the negativity. I believe the talk came out well and will benefit the team.

“Going into the derby, we know we need to work to collectively for the club. We have been playing good football lately, except for Sunday’s match, now we just need to convert that into points.

Platinum Stars v Ajax Cape Town

Platinum Stars will take their bow at the newly-renovated and FIFA World Cup training venue, Moruleng Stadium on Wednesday night as they welcome Ajax Cape Town for a crucial Absa Premiership clash. The Tycoons and The Urban Warriors will be looking to secure a three-point haul for very different reasons tonight.

The Tycoons are struggling at the wrong end of the table and are in desperate need of a win, while the Urban Warriors have the chance to move into second place.

There is positive news on the injury front for Coach Steve Komphela, who has defender Oscar Ntwagae and striker Simba Marumo in his squad for the game.

Ajax Have a Player Crisis

Ajax, meanwhile, have something of player crises with injuries, suspensions, and absentees on international duty with the Under-20 side at the World Cup in Egypt seriously limiting their squad.

“We did not have ten players against Sundowns and the players who were there represented the club very well and we managed to win away from home. The players were confident and everyone who wears the Ajax jersey does so with pride and responsibility,” Coach Muhsin Ertugral said.

Ertugral added that he is happy to continue playing the games at the moment rather than having postponements that will leave him with fixture congestion later in the campaign.

Both Matches kick off at 19.30

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