— Cape Town Cape Town City assistant coach Diego Parel is confident that the Citizens will advance to the next round of the CAF Champions League, as his team will not simply defend their two-goal lead against AS Otoho in the second leg of the preliminary round on Sunday at the Stade Alphonse Massamba-Debat in Brazzaville (4.30pm).
Taahir Goedeman and Marc van Heeden scored for City in their 2-0 victory over the Congo Ligue 1 champions last weekend at the Athlone Stadium.
“We are pursuing the away goal, which is crucial. We are an offensive team, and we’ve never gone out of our man to tie a game or maintain results,” said Porel, who will be in command on the bench due to Eric Tinkler’s lack of a CAF A coaching license.
“We will go there to acquire anything. We must play our game and maintain possession, rather than engage them in a physical contest due to their size and strength.”
In all truth, City should have already clinched the match after creating countless opportunities in the first leg, and they will be hoping that their profligacy in front of goal does not come back to haunt them on Sunday.
“We believe we should have scored more goals than two.
We had numerous opportunities, but we must improve in the final third of the field. On the defensive side of the ball, however, everything else was adequate. It was crucial to retain a clean sheet at home because of the away goal rule.”
Tinkler had mentioned after the first leg match the problems City had in preparation for the game against AS Otoho due to the dearth of available film footage of the opponent. However, after surviving the first leg, the Citizens now had a much better picture of what to anticipate in Central Africa.
“They depended heavily on set pieces, free kicks, and throw-ins, and we anticipated this. We needed to maintain pressure on their defense to prevent them from receiving as many long balls as feasible “Parel remarked.
“When they arrived, they wasted time, as the goalkeeper began sipping water inside the first minute.
“They cannot afford to squander time; they must now go out and attempt to achieve the goals. That being the case, we will play some football.”