It’s ‘not easy’ playing for Amakhosi
SIPHELELE NTSHANGASE has promised to deliver a “champagne pass” – one of his many traits as an attacking midfielder – when he finally makes his Kaizer Chiefs debut against Polokwane City tomorrow night.
Sounds a tad arrogant, but that is actually what Amakhosi have lacked in the two and a half years that they have failed to win a trophy. They have lacked that killer pass in the middle of the park, although coach Steve Komphela admitted this week that Chiefs also acquired the services of striker Leonardo Castro because they don’t have a target man in the box.
Whoever he has at his disposal – Bernard Parker, Gustavo Paez and young Ryan Moon – drifts to the wings, the coach argued.
“I’ve been given clear instructions by the coach about my role,” Ntshangase, who signed for Chiefs from Baroka FC last week, said.
“It’s not easy playing for Chiefs, especially if they are not winning trophies.
“I honestly think what has been missing in the last two seasons is the killer pass, the champagne pass.
“I feel I am 80 percent fit because I haven’t played a lot since recovering from my injury.”
That’s not the only reason why Ntshangase lacks match fitness.
The whole truth is that he didn’t want to be a Baroka player anymore.
“I made it clear as far back as 2015 that I wanted to play for Chiefs,” he revealed. But his dream was put on hold by Black Leopards chairman David Thidiela, who sold him to Baroka for R2million at the start of the season, even though he had more than doubled the price when Amakhosi showed interest in the player.
Does the fact that he is now playing for a team he publicly declared his love for three years ago put him under pressure?
“Not at all,” said Ntshangase. “I have never been in this kind of situation, where I have so much competition. I now have to work extremely hard and that is what any player wants in their career.
“Leopards are struggling right now because they depended on me for too long and didn’t have a replacement when they eventually let me go.
“I am happy here and my family is happy. But it’s time to work now that the dream has finally become a reality.”
The move to Naturena is also a way to revive Ntshangase’s career, seeing that it has somewhat stalled because of injury and the fact that he did not capitalise on his Bafana Bafana debut three years ago.
He lingered for too long in the NFD with Leopards.
“I think everything has it’s own time. And if you ask about my injury, it took me a while to realise that maybe my life can change as a result,” said Ntshangase.