Lorenzo Gordinho praises Cape Town City resilience amid PSL promotion push

City are in a strong position to earn promotion from the second tier following their ill-fated 2024/25 season that saw them finish 15th – ahead of only the disqualified Royal AM – before losing the relegation play-offs to Orbit College.

Gordinho, who is among a number of high-profile players that remained with the team following their fall from the top tier, has reflected on their "adaptation" phase that saw them go their first six fixtures without a win. 

"I think, at the end of last season, not making it through the playoffs to stay in the PSL was difficult, it really affected a lot of the players, a lot of the staff and the club as a whole," said Gordinho.

"Coming to the start of this season, we had to go through a bit of an adaptation phase, especially at the beginning of the season – we weren't getting the results that were somewhat expected.

"Because everyone expected that it would be easier for us, being the club that we are with the players that we have, but I think we had to adapt.

"And I'm glad that it happened right in the beginning in a way because it made us experience what it would be like throughout the season if we didn't change our perspective on the league, on ourselves and actually what we're trying to achieve this season.

"So I think, with that happening right in the beginning, it gave us the opportunity to turn it around and to adapt to coming into the [Motsepe Foundation Championship] league."

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The Citizens are currently second on the MFC table, with 44 points from 25 matches – trailing leaders Kruger United by just five points.

Coming off a goalless draw at home to fourth-placed Hungry Lions on Saturday, Gordinho says Wednesday's top-of-the-table clash against Kruger is imperative to win, along with every fixture after that, in order to stay in the hunt for the one automatic promotion spot.

"Firstly, we were a bit disappointed with our last result, playing at home, we were trying to win the game, get the three points, especially being at home in Cape Town," he reflected.

"But at this point of the season you have to take the point – we still walked away with a point, and going into Wednesday, it's going to be a very important game for us.

"We definitely want to go out there and win because only by winning will we be able to close the gap and to keep us in second position.

"And then for the remainder of the games we have to go all out, try get on a run and get maximum points out of all of these games to give us the best chance of automatic promotion."