Mphahlele goal sends Chiefs to semifinals

Kaizer Chiefs advanced to the Telkom Knockout semifinals with a disjointed 1-0 victory over SuperSport United at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.

Chiefs were the last team to clinch their spot to go in the hat alongside Baroka‚ Bidvest Wits and Orlando Pirates for the semifinal draw.

With Khama Billiat and Leonardo Castro leading the Chiefs’ attack, the only goal came from an unlikely source when rightback Ramahlwe Mphahlele rifled a rasping shot past Ronwen Williams with 38 minutes on the clock.

A heartbeat earlier Chiefs had squandered a chance to take the lead.

Daniel Bennett awarded Chiefs a penalty‚ adjudging Richard Boateng to have upended Mphahlele in the box.

Up stepped Willard Katsande who blasted his spotkick against the crossbar and the ball ricocheted back into play.

United failed to clear and in the resultant follow up play Mphahlele broke the deadlock with a well taken strike.

Chiefs were far from fluid and they looked troubled when SuperSport surged forward.

Things got a little heated when Chiefs strongman Katsande clattered into former teammate Reneilwe Letsholonyane and then Itumeleng Khune handled the ball outside the box and he collided with Aubrey Modiba.

Bennett awarded a free kick and the Chiefs goalkeeper escaped with a yellow card when he should have seen red.

Chiefs pushed for a second when Dumsani Zuma zigzagged around the SuperSport defence and fed Bernard Parker inside the area but his shot was smothered by Williams.

Chiefs Giovanni Solinas made one change to the line-up that lost to Pirates last week‚ George Maluleka taking the place of the benched Siphelele Ntshangase while United were without Dean Furman.

Chiefs have been drawn to play Pirates in the semifinals while Baroka and Wits will meet in the other semi. The ChiefsPirates match will be the second Soweto derby in five weeks. Ties are to be played on the weekend of November 24-25.

●