Ajax Cape Town sweat on Yannick Zakri fitness ahead of crunch clash

by Graeme Jackson

Thursday May 10, 2018. 09:07

Ajax Cape Town are sweating over the fitness of key attacker Yannick Zakri ahead of their Absa Premiership clash against Kaizer Chiefs this weekend.

The Urban Warriors must win the match on Saturday afternoon to have any chance of avoiding the relegation playoffs and they will be concerned at news that Zakri has taken ill this week.

The Ivorian forward, who is loan from Mamelodi Sundowns, has become a key figure for Ajax after scoring four key goals since his move back in January.

“Yannick has a runny stomach,” coach Muhsin Ertugral told the media at a press conference on Wednesday. “I saw he was not moving well at training and asked him what’s wrong, and he said, ‘I’m s****** in my pants’!

“He’s not elastic enough, not quick enough, because he has lost a bit of weight. So he’ll do another training session this afternoon, and if I get the green light there, then he’ll be on the field [on Saturday].”

The Cape side are banking on their fine home form to bring them through to victory against the Amakhosi.

“We had a bit of time to prepare ourselves, especially mentally,” Ertugral said. “There’s nothing more we can do physically, just mentally we need to be better.

“We’ve worked on our strengths, not our weaknesses – as you can’t change those in two weeks.

“If I’m not mistaken, we’re the second best team on the log in terms of home record, and our last game is now at home, so the confidence of the boys is there.

“We’ve worked a lot on certain elements over the past few weeks, and I’m confident we’ll win the game.”