Riekerink: ‘Number-Number’ can’t fit into a system, he is too good

If you are looking for South African natural ball players in the whole of the Premier Soccer League, you need to look no further than Mamelodi Sundowns’ Themba Zwane and Bradley Ralani of Cape Town City.

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The two are a joy to watch on their day and the country got a chance to see Ralani dazzling against SuperSport United on Saturday evening, where his side ended up on the losing end as they succumbed 2-1 to Matsatsantsa A Pitori.

Ralani scored the Capetonians’ goal in a spectacular solo effort, beating United and Bafana Bafana ‘keeper Ronwen Williams on his near post to score his fifth goal of the season.

Like “Mshishi”, as Zwane is affectionately known, whenever fit, Ralani is usually the paper that the coach writes his team on. But the problem with such gifted players is that you can’t seem to find the right position to play them in, and you end up putting them anywhere to please the demands of team-sheet and formation.

His coach, Jan Olde Riekerink seems to have found a way to field the player nicknamed “Number-Number” instead of trying to suffocate and limit him in a specific position.

Every coach always talks about systems but systems disappear at the moment. The ball is rolling and I think as a team and coaches you get to see the quality of the players,” said Riekerink.

“You can play Surprise as a left winger but he will never be excellent like the way he plays now. You have to let me play inside the team and with us he has the freedom to do that because he creates in a free-role. In the first-half he was unlucky but in the second-half he was outstanding,” he added.

His side are now defeated in their last two DStv Premiership games as they lost 2-0 to Orlando Pirates before succumbing to The Spartans. Riekerink, nonetheless, says City are refuelling their tank and will bounce back to continue their mandate from chairman John Comitis.

“There is no fear in the team. I told them before the game that it is either you want to be in the top four, the top six of the top eight, and that’s the ambition of the club. Before this game we had the focus to jump into the first four and that means we had to win the game against SuperSport and we didn’t,” said Riekerink.

“In the season you will have periods that are going well [and sometimes not so well] and now we have lost two games away. But I know for sure that in this team we will find our way back. It is a fact that we have to recover from these two losses and be realistic about where we are and never forget where we want to be and that is something very important. We have the quality and we will bounce back,” he added.

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