Another daunting game for Chippa
Mosimane vows to stay calm in leading team through slump
CHIPPA United coach Teboho Moloi has asked his players to put their hearts on the line when they face Kaizer Chiefs in the Telkom Knockout last eight at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
After seeing off Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 in the last 16 of the KO Cup in Mdantsane on Sunday, the Chilli Boys face another daunting task when they host the Soweto giants.
Samuel Julies helped Chippa advance to the next round of the competition when he found the back of the net in the second half.
Caretaker coach Moloi seems to have turned Chippa United’s fortunes around and has asked his players to give their all against Amakhosi on Sunday, from 3.30pm.
“It is a very difficult game. I know, I come from the rivals [Orlando Pirates] and that’s always in my heart.
“They [Kaizer Chiefs] will always be my rivals,” Moloi said.
“There is no way that we are going to face them and not fight.
“But we need to play as well,” the former Pirates midfielder said.
His team had to fight for every inch against Sundowns, he said.
“It was a difficult win, we can’t take anything away from Sundowns. “They gave us a run for our money. “It was an exciting game, it could have gone either way because both teams never sat back. “We were attacking each other.” Moloi would like nothing more than to beat his old rivals, but before he navigates that match he needs to plot a path to victory over Wits at the Bidvest Stadium in Johannesburg in the PSL tomorrow night.
Moloi has not lost a game at Chippa since taking over from Dan Malesela and attributes his seven-match unbeaten run to hard work.
“I had to shut the door first [in defence]. Going forward, this team never had problems, but in the past when they went forward, they went with numbers and were not aware of what was happening behind them. “We had to work on that one first. “Everything goes with hard work, these boys are prepared to dig in and work very hard,” he said.
“We are not a finished product yet, we are a product at work. We still need to work hard to be able to change from defence to attack.”
PITSO Mosimane is standing by his philosophy and approach to the game and looking for his Mamelodi Sundowns charges to dig deeper as they deal with the fallout from three successive losses and elimination from the Telkom Knockout.
“In the life of a coach‚ there are two things that happen – you are being praised or criticised‚” he said after the 1-0 defeat to Chippa United in the first round of the cup in Mdantsane on Sunday.
“Sometimes you are being criticised unfairly and other times it is justified.
“Other times you are praised. But you must never let it affect your life and your career or your belief in the team or your philosophy of the way football should be played.
“We have to move on. We have to go through this [slump].”
Mosimane said he had to keep up a stoical front now as the club readied for tomorrow’s encounter against Orlando Pirates.
“I’m the leader. If I press panic buttons then the players will also lose it. The reality is to stay grounded.
“I’m the head of the club and keep everyone calm.
“Also, we must look at the game. Are we playing well? Yes,” he said.
“We dominated all of the last three games we played‚” Mosimane said of the home defeats to Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu and now the firstever loss to Chippa.
“I don’t press panic buttons because I look at what’s happening there and I understand what’s happening.
“If you don’t understand that’s when you start panicking.”
Sunday’s defeat was the first time in six years that Sundowns had been knocked out in the first round of the Telkom Knockout.
“We pushed them and tried to go in and penetrate but we couldn’t.
“To be honest‚ it didn’t happen‚ we didn’t create any real chances‚” Mosimane said of the Sundowns’ showing in the Eastern Cape.