For now all the Amakhosi want is to win silverware
The pressure to deliver has piled up so high that every setback is seen as the end of the world because it’s not looked at in isolation but as a continuation of a three-season barren run. Chiefs have no choice but to start firing from the onset to cool the boiling anger from the club’s supporters.
Amakhosi start the season on Saturday with a tricky encounter – visiting the league champions, Sundowns, at Loftus Versfeld.
We have worked hard
“It’s good that we start with Sundowns,” Mphahlele said. “We played them two weeks ago (in the Shell Helix Ultra Cup). They are a very strong team. It’s going to be tough but we have worked very hard in pre-season.
“As much as we aren’t where we want to be, but we are in the right path and we will have a go. We’re going to stand our own. We’re going to Pretoria to play. The new coach wants us to play.
“I have no doubt that we will put on a good fight and I am confident that we will get something out of that game.”
That game will be Giovanni Solinas’ first as Chiefs’ coach. He has watched all of their pre-season friendlies on the stands while the club sorted out his work permit. The Italian coach has a mammoth task of not only bringing trophies at Chiefs but also to play attractive football.
But at the moment Chiefs are only concerned about winning, how it comes about is something they’ll only worry about once they end the drought.
“He is a very aggressive coach,” Mphahlele said. “He wants perfection. He wants us to work hard. He wants us to change the mentality …Three years without a trophy isn’t nice. We’ll keep fighting.
“If we give up as players then who is going to bring the trophy? We have to bring the trophies.
The players have to work hard to bring the trophy. No one else is going to do that.”