Time for a Knockout weekend
MIDFIELDER: WE NEED TO PROCEED TO THE NEXT ROUND
Sibongiseni Gumbi
The good and the bad of the recent Soweto derby has been archived and stowed away and Kaizer Chiefs are now focused on the job at hand – getting past a stubborn SuperSport United to get to the semifinals of the Telkom Knockout.
Amakhosi host Matsatsantsa at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium at 3pm tomorrow.
Midfielder Willard Katsande said the derby file has been archived to avoid it affecting them and will be revisited when they play the next one and only to see where they need to improve.
“There is nothing to do to affect the past but we can do something about the future. The immediate future is the SuperSport game. We took the disappointment of the derby and archived it and we will revisit it when the next derby comes up again to look at what we can’t do wrong again,” said the veteran Amakhosi workhorse.
Getting the bitter end of the stick in the derby was another factor which puts pressure on Giovanni Solinas’ team who have to deliver at least one trophy this season to avoid going four years without silverware – which has never happened before.
SuperSport have had the wood over Chiefs in cup games over the past few years and knocked them out of the MTN8 this season.
“We just need to proceed to the next round,” said Katsande. “If you find yourself in the jungle and you meet up with a lion you don’t close your eyes. If it sees you have your eyes open, you clash and no one knows who will come out alive,” he added.
Katsande called on his teammates to take responsibility and ensure that what happened to them here last season where they were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by Free State Stars doesn’t happen again.
“We need to make responsibility and play as a team. We have to try to resist and go in at half-time without conceding and things can open up in the second half.
“An early goal can give us an advantage and help us play with confidence,” he said.
SuperSport may be weakened with captain Dean Furman and striker Bradley Grobler unavailable due to injury, but Katsande doesn’t buy into that.
“We don’t need to be worried about individuals in their team. We have been studying their philosophy and game plan, checking their movements. You can remove one player and the set-up stays,” he said.