Spurs aces add boost

The Cape Town Spurs ouens got a decent run with the South Africa U23 team dispatched Togo 2-2 on away goals in their two-legged CAF U23 Afcon second-round qualifers last month, writes Sizwe Mbebe

Goalkeeper Lincoln Vyver and striker Ashley Cupido have cemented their places as main manne, with the team taking on Congo in March’s final round for a place in Morocco next June.

Khaya Mfecane also looks set at fullback for club and country.

That’s really great news for coach Shaun Bartlett, who will lean on his national players to bring all that experience back to Ikamva and help the team finish strong before the World Cup break.

Spurs have three matches left in 2022, the first of which will be against the Venda Academy at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.

Three points there will set them up nicely before they set up camp in Limpopo to acclimatised to the heat up north before targeting six more points against TTM and Black Leopards.

And administrator Shooz Mekuto says: “The good thing is that we’re starting at home.

“We need to get it done here at home so that we are not desperate when we get there.

“We also have a few players back from injury who will push the current guys for a spot in the squad.

“Boitumelo Radiopane is fit which should give the coach some options up front and lessen the load on our current top scorer Ashley [Cupido]. Leo Thethani is also fit, so we now all off a sudden have good options in all positions.”

Maximum points from those games in hand will bag 21 points off 11 games, which is just one less than current leaders Polokwane, who have played 10 games before their final fixture of the year this weekend.

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