Fans riot as Chiefs are thrashed at FNB
at FNB Stadium
● It is a measure of the dramatic decline of the Kaizer Chiefs brand that Soccer City was nearly empty yesterday as Steve Komphela’s side were thrashed 3-0 at home by upstarts Chippa United that ended any slim hopes they might have had of a late tilt at the title.
After the match those very few Chiefs fans pelted Komphela and his troops with all sorts of missiles following their second defeat against Chippa this season.
Thabo Rakhale, Mxolisi Machupu and Edward Manqele scored as Chippa exploited the advantage of Chiefs going down to 10 men when Mulomowandau Mathoho had to go off with concussion.
The result exemplified how far Chiefs have fallen as an entertaining force, struggling to score and battling to attract a crowd.
An attendance register could easily have been passed around before the end of the 90 minutes, such was the preponderance of empty orange seats at the imposing venue.
Fans, or should we really call them followers, only want to watch a winning team and have deserted the club in droves. Now Chiefs only pull a crowd when on the road, in areas which they infrequently visit.
It is on the back of results like this that Chiefs surely need to reassess where they are going and understand the massive support they built up over the decades was almost exclusively because they were continually winning silverware.
Now that they have lost that formula, a drastic drop in attendances shows they must find a way to get back to the podium or face fading away.
Chiefs were handed a blow when Ramahlwe Mphahlele felt a twinge in his hamstring and was taken early.
Ryan Moon had a 19th-minute effort blocked by Akpeyi and Siphiwe Tshabalala sent the rebound wide before Rakhale opened the scoring in the 25th minute.
Abel Mabaso fed him the ball and with a sudden burst of pace, Rakhale eased past Mathoho, who in attempting to get back and challenge, made contact with the ball and inadvertently helped Rakhale to wrong-foot Itumeleng Khune.
With Mathoho out, Chiefs were in disarray at the back near the end of the game and Rakhale set up Machupu for a deserved second goal some 15 minutes from time.
Substitute Edward Manqele got the third deep in stoppage time at the end of a square pass from Paseka Mako.
GOALS: Man City — Vincent Kompany (25m); Ilkay Gundogan (30m); Man Utd — Paul Pogba (53m, 55m); Chris Smalling (69m)
● Paul Pogba spoiled Manchester City’s anticipated Premier League title party by scoring twice in two minutes as Manchester United came from 2-0 down to win a thrilling derby 3-2 yesterday.
Chris Smalling completed the comeback that looked so improbable when City were well on course to round off a resounding march towards the title by racing into a 2-0 first-half lead.
Goals from captain Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan put the hosts in a commanding position, but they were left to rue missed chances from Raheem Sterling to extend their lead.
Pogba has endured a disappointing season having often been dropped by Jose Mourinho for United’s biggest games.
Pep Guardiola kept his promise to prioritise Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Liverpool with City needing to overturn a 3-0 deficit.
Kevin de Bruyne was left on the bench alongside Gabriel Jesus and City’s all-time top goalscorer Sergio Aguero.
Guardiola and Mourinho have a rivalry dating back to their time in charge of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
And the game quickly settled into the usual pattern when the two face off with City dominating possession and United happy to get plenty of men behind the ball. Yet, for all City’s possession, just like when City won 21 at Old Trafford in December, it was from a set-piece that United were undone.
Kompany outmuscled Smalling to power home Leroy Sane’s corner on 25 minutes.
Five minutes later City doubled their lead in a style that has characterised their season as Gundogan brilliantly turned onto Sterling’s pass before slotting into the far corner.
City should have been out of sight by halftime as Guardiola screamed in frustration after Sterling fired two glorious chances well over the bar.
Like his teammates, Pogba was overrun in the first 45 minutes, but came alive to slot home from Ander Herrera’s cushioned pass with his chest to get United back into the game eight minutes after the break.
They soon had two in two minutes when Alexis Sanchez picked out Pogba’s late run into the box and his header beat Ederson low to his right-hand side.
United took just 16 minutes to complete an incredible turnaround when Smalling capitalised on some slack City marking to turn home Sanchez’s free-kick.