Interim Cape Town City boss Diogo Peral
Image: Independent Newspapers
Andre Arendse and Diogo Peral will begin their shot at redemption when their teams clash in the Betway Premiership at Peter Mokaba Stadium this afternoon.
SuperSport United and Cape Town City will meet in the league in Polokwane under the custodians of the two men in charge of the respective teams.
Arendse and Peral got the SuperSport and City roles on an interim basis after and before the FIFA international break.
But such is their limited time to make sure that their teams turn their fortunes around, they have to hit the ground running and win matches.
SuperSport are drowning 15th on the standings - a spot beyond the automatic relegation position following their poor run of form under coach Gavin Hunt.
Hunt had been at the club, in his second spell, for almost two-and-half years, and steered the team to a third and seventh place respectively.
He bemoaned that he had to do with what he had as the team was limited in resources due to financial struggles in recent years.
Hunt, an experienced coach with over 1000th caps under his belt, has left Arendse with invaluable lessons to take his coaching career to the next level.
The legendary Bafana Bafana coach doesn’t only have the qualifications - having acquired his CAF B coaching license - but he knows the club like the back of his hand.
Arendse has been at SuperSport for some time, and has played a vital role in the growth of some of the most renowned superstars nowadays.
Africa’s No 1 Ronwen Williams has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years, winning numerous accolades and guiding the national team to glory at the last Afcon.
Arendse is one of the humble people in the football fraternity, but he’ll know that he has to make sure that he cuts the mustard as a coach.
He has to steer his side to safety - and possibly the top-eight - in the league as they are currently languishing in a slippery position on the table right now.
The fact that SuperSport will meet City, though, will probably be a two-edged sword for Arendse considering his opponents technical team.
He’ll feel that he could have prepared better for the clash against someone who’s been there for longer, while he’ll be happy to try himself against the new boys on the block.
Peral took over the reins from Muhsin Ertugral following a disastrous return to the dugout after a stint with the Turkish national team in the last six years.
Ertugral has honed the careers of some of the finest players in the land, and he felt he still had what it takes to coach at the highest level.
It wasn’t to be. He didn’t even stay around long enough to start his role as the technical director of the Citizens as the chairman John Comitis let him go.
The good thing about the new dawn is that Peral won’t be alone for his major gig as he’ll be deputised by Lebogang Manyama and Roger De Sa.
The trio will no doubt want to make sure that they start their campaign on a high and beat SuperSport, and that’s why there should be a good outing in Polokwane.