Amakhosi loss to Chippa makes top 8 finish unlikely
● Intercontinental football is increasingly looking unlikely once again for Kaizer Chiefs next season as their poor form in the DStv Premiership took a worse turn yesterday when they suffered a second successive league defeat — a 2-0 loss to Chippa United — at a packed Buffalo City Municipality Stadium in East London.
The defeat follows the one they suffered against Stellenbosch FC (0-1) at FNB Stadium on Tuesday.
Again, the Amakhosi defence looked at sixes and sevens as Chippa strikers Eva Nga and Sinoxolo Kwayiba helped themselves to first-half goals on a wet and slippery pitch.
Chiefs, whose players at times showed no hunger, fight or determination to gain anything from this match, started brightly and looked the team likely to open the scoring as defender Edmilson Dove and striker Ranga Chivaviro had good chances before Nga headed in the opener off a throw-in in the 21st minute.
Nga had another glorious chance to double Chippa’s lead but his shot went over the bar. A few seconds later, however, Kwayiba made no mistake when he was given acres of space to pick his spot in the 32nd minute as the Chiefs rearguard looked more and more in disarray.
While Chippa will be happy to gain three points in two matches in a row, to come closer to ensuring they will still be campaigning in the big-time next season, for Chiefs the defeat only compounds their misery in a season in which they once again failed to win a trophy, taking their unprecedented famine to nine years.
There was still hope that Chiefs could at least please their supporters by finishing in the top three and qualify for the Caf Champions League or Caf Confederation Cup but, as they’re languishing in eighth spot with 30 points after 23 games, there’s now little hope of Amakhosi overtaking clubs like Sekhukhune United, Orlando Pirates, SuperSport United and Stellenbosch — all a few points above them on the log.
Even TS Galaxy (seventh), Lamontville Golden Arrows (9th before their late game against Orlando Pirates) and Chippa (tenth) will fancy their chances of finishing above Chiefs if they can maintain their current form. That means Chiefs will finish outside the top eight for the first time since the 20182019 season.
There was little in this match to give Chiefs fans any hope of their club ending 2023-2024 stronger as they battled to create chances against a Chippa side that defended well and were clinical in taking their few chances.
With 45 minutes to turn things around in the second half, Chiefs continued to huff and puff, struggling to create chances. Only Christain Saile and Dove came close to reducing the score in the second stanza, but both were denied by Chippa goalkeeper Darren Johnson.
As a team, Chippa did well to manage their lead, sitting back and looking to catch their fancied visitors on the break in the second half.
There was speculation concerning how Chiefs players were affected playing this match just a few days after the killing of their teammate Luke Fleurs on Wednesday night. The 24-year-old defender, who was yet to make a debut for Amakhosi after joining them from SuperSport United, was shot and killed by his hijackers in Honeydew, Johannesburg.