Durban — This Saturday at the Athlone Stadium, where Cape Town City will make their CAF Champions League debut against AS Otohô, their dugout will have an odd appearance.
The team will be without head coach Eric Tinkler, who will be replaced by assistant coach Diogo Perol.
City will begin play in the first qualifying round with this match. Should they prevail, they will advance to the second qualifying round and play straight for a spot in the CAF Champions League group stage.
Tinkler cannot be in the dugout due to new CAF regulations requiring coaches in the competition to hold a CAF Pro or CAF A License. Tinkler has neither of them, however he does own a Uefa A License.
The match looks to be a formidable challenge for the South African league runners-up from previous season. City has gotten off to a sluggish start in the current league season. They have won just two of their eight domestic league games and are currently eighth in the league. After the heroics of the previous season, they had hoped for a better start to the new campaign.
In addition, Otohô pledge to be no pushovers. They were the champions of the Congo Premier League last season, winning 17 of their 26 league games and losing only one. Prior to playing in the unfamiliar conditions of Congo-Brazzaville a week later, it is imperative that City get a victory in South Africa.
Despite City’s lackluster play leading up to the match, they can take solace from Tinkler’s impressive record in CAF events. Although the head coach will not be on the sidelines, he will have a significant impact on how City plays.
Tinkler led Orlando Pirates to the 2015 CAF Confederations Cup final before achieving the same feat with SuperSport United two years later. He may have lost both tournaments in the final round, but this demonstrates that he understands how to manage games in Africa, especially those that take place away from home.