Chiefs and Wits clash tonight
Chiefs and Wits will both be looking to build on a promising start to the new PSL season when they clash at Soccer City tonight.
Bidvest Wits and Kaizer Chiefs will have been pleased with their weekend starts to the new Premier Soccer League season as both look to turn the corner after a turbulent last 12 months.
The two clubs clash tonight at Soccer City in an opportunity to build further and put themselves back on the path to success.
Wits were 3-0 winners at home on Saturday to Free State Stars, who so often in the past have proven their bogey team, while Chiefs’ draw against champions Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria in the opening game of the new campaign must be seen as a point gained.
Chiefs continue to sit at something of a crossroads they are still the most popular team in the country but their support is visibly haemorrhaging.
Three seasons under coach Steve Komphela failed to deliver a single trophy and poor signings only added to the malaise.
Komphela quit just before the end of last season and would almost certainly not have been offered a new contract if he had wanted to stay.
But it is obvious Chiefs did not have a ready succession plan in place and were left scrambling, eventually appointing Giovanni Solinas, who was obviously not their first choice as coach.
He also arrived well past the start of the pre-season training which meant his debut could have been a disaster, so the 1-1 draw at Loftus Versfeld will have given him and the squad a much-needed boost,
For Wits, the defence of their 2017 title last season was an unmitigated disaster. Coach Gavin Hunt clashed with players, a poisonous tone ran through the squad and the team spent most of the year battling against relegation.
Again, Wits have looked to freshen the squad and inject new energy into the group with an eclectic mix of aging veterans and emerging talent. Sometimes their transfer policy looks haphazard but no-one can argue with the emphatic nature of their weekend win and what that will do for their hopes this season.
Both league matches last season ended in draws, but Wits claimed a 1-0 success in the Telkom Knockout. It is also worth noting that Wits have only won one (2015) of their last nine visits to Chiefs.
The two clubs would likely have wanted to avoid playing against each other so early in the season, but for TAB soccer punters it is an opportunity for a clearer view on who has the capacity to go on and achieve in the coming months.