Parel: City seeking away goal in Brazzaville

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Sep 14, 2022. 13:00

Cape Town assistant coach Diego Parel insists they have no intention of just defending their lead against AS Otoho in the CAF Champions League on Sunday.

The Citizens kicked off their African campaign with a 2-0 victory over the Congo Ligue 1 champions at Athlone Stadium in the first leg of their first-round qualifier last weekend.

Second-half goals from Taahir Goedeman (51′) and Marc Van Heerden (58′) have given City a slight advantage going into the second leg at the Stade Alphonse Massemba-Debat in Brazzaville.

Parel expects the Oyo outfit to offer more of a threat in their own backyard after they resorted to time-wasting tactics in the first leg, but he stressed that City will take the fight to them in the hope of getting an all-important away goal.

“We think the two goals we scored [in the first leg] are enough and we are confident that we will go through to the next round,” Parel told Sowetan.

“Here they relied on set-pieces, free-kicks and thrown-ins, and we knew it was going to be like that. With the long ball over the top, we needed to keep pressure on their defence to avoid as many long balls as possible.

“When they came here they were wasting time from the first minute the keeper was going down drinking water. They cannot afford to waste time, now they will have to come out and try to get the goals. So that suits us and we are going to play some football.”

Parel, who is standing in for Eric Tinkler as the City head coach does not have the required qualifications to be in the dugout for CAF competitions, added: “Now we are going after the away goal, that’s big.

“We are an offensive team and we’ve not gone anywhere to draw a game or hold on to results. We are going there to get something.

“We need to play our game and keep possession, and not make a physical match because they are big and strong.”