Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy insists that striker Tokelo Rantie could be available for their MTN8 final against SuperSport United on Saturday, writes DYLAN APPOLIS.
The 29-year-old penned a deal with the Citizens in the final hours of the summer transfer window, having not played for several months since going awol at his previous club Genclerbirligi.
Rantie is yet to make his official debut for City, but McCarthy has given his thoughts on whether the Bafana Bafana striker will be fit enough for the weekend’s showdown.
‘We are always hopeful [to have him fit for the final], so he is working mainly with the [fitness] coach and the physio. He had a little setback, we pushed him really hard because we want him to get back into shape and to the level where we know that he can hurt teams in this league and he is one of the best strikers out there in the country and we want him at his best,’ McCarthy told the media.
‘He had a couple of setbacks, his hamstring is a little bit tight so we don’t want to push, we just reduced his workload and see how he responds and then if we get an OK by [Wednesday], hopefully we can go into Thursday with the possibility that he might be there.’
City head into the final with another injury concern in wing Surprise Ralani, while Taariq Fielies will miss following his red card in a league encounter against Kaizer Chiefs.
‘Surprise is touch-and-go and, like Rantie, is training apart from the team,’ he added. ‘Those are the only two with injury worries, but we have to wait until Thursday to see if we’ll have them available.’
Cape Town City will take on SuperSport United in the MTN8 final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday with kick-off set for 7pm.
