Billiat: Big derby has got country buzzing
Sibongiseni Gumbi
Big games need big players and they don’t come grander than Kaizer Chiefs’ Khama Billiat, who boldly declared when he joined the club that he wanted to play in front of big crowds like in the Soweto Derby.
The 27-year-old is Amakhosi’s biggest star and their best signing in recent years.
Billiat has played well and scored against Orlando Pirates in the previous derby, although his goal was cancelled out by Innocent Maela while Vincent Pule scored the winner for Buccaneers.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s derby at the FNB Stadium, Billiat said he has enjoyed his first derbies, but the results soured the experience.
“You have to get used to it (the derby). It’s not easy but it’s nice when you win. Playing in front of big crowds gets the best out of you. It is exactly what I expected it to be,” he added.
Billiat said he has tried to not think too much about tomorrow’s game but found it difficult as everywhere he went someone was talking about it.
“It’s a great feeling to know the whole country is waiting in anticipation. The whole week you get reminded about this game. Even when you try to have a moment alone at home and not think about it you can’t because when you switch on the TV, you find they are talking about the upcoming derby. Even the people in the streets stop you and talk about it,” he said.
“That explains how big it is. It tells you how much you need to prepare, how much you need to do individually before you get to training to go through the team’s tactics.
“But we are looking forward to it, we don’t want to be in a situation where we think about what we could have done better after the match,” said the Zimbabwean international.
Asked about the pressure he carries as the team’s star player, he said: “I enjoy pressure, pressure is beautiful.”
But the bottom line is the three points … at this moment every point is very important. We are not in a situation where we can drop points and say we can recover them later. We are at a point where we need every point on offer.
“Everyone likes scoring goals. But the team comes first and am happy with making more assists than goals.”
Winning Coach and Player of the Month has proved a bit of a curse for Dylan Kerr, Mwape Musonda and Black Leopards, who have suffered back to back 3-0 defeats to Bloemfontein Celtic and Mamelodi Sundowns. Kerr blasted his captain Marks Munyai after the loss to Celtic, amid reports that the Black Leopards skipper has signed a pre-contract to join Highlands Park. Munyai missed both the Celtic and Sundowns games, and his absence certainly hurt on the field, with Kerr now needing to find a way to right his listing Leopards ship.