Marked for Teboho Erasmus
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑3 against Black Aces, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Ajax Cape Town
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Ajax Cape Town are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luther Erasmus falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Erick Phiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dean Furman after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 4.67 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bradley Zwane's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Teboho Erasmus
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Luther Mphela, 21, steals the show — 7.68
Marked 7.68 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town asked and OB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Erick Phiri commits to Ajax Cape Town for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Erick Phiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Dala is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.