Katsande hurt by ‘7de Laan’ jibe
Willard Katsande says it is painful for him and his Kaizer Chiefs teammates to hear fans making fun of the team for being stuck in seventh place on the Premiership log.
With two league games to play‚ Chiefs face the ignominy of missing out on the MTN8 cup next season if they fail to finish inside the top eight bracket.
Chiefs are reeling from a five-match winless streak and find themselves in an unfamiliar position on the table with 38 points from 28 matches.
Chiefs have been stuck in seventh spot since early December when German coach Ernst Middendorp replaced Italian mentor Giovanni Solinas and they have had difficulties moving up the table.
The 33-year-old midfield workhorse‚ who is in his eighth season at Naturena‚ says he is hurting after seeing fans poking fun at his club.
Some fans have gone as far as labelling Amakhosi but Katsande says the Soweto giants will have the last laugh.
“You know you hear people making fun of us, and it is very painful because Kaizer Chiefs are a big team to be stuck in the same place on the league table for so long‚” Katsande said at the club’s training base in Johannesburg’s Naturena on Thursday.
Chiefs host relegation threatened Free State Stars at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday looking for a win that will almost guarantee their spot in next season’s MTN8 competition.
“You never know what tomorrow holds when the sunshine comes maybe my flower can blossom. So I think we are going to have the last laugh, trust me‚” said Katsande‚ who is expected to play a leading role for Zimbabwe in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Egypt in June and July.
Katsande, one of the longestserving players at Chiefs along with Bernard Parker, likened Amakhosi’s situation to that of a dying flower that needs to be brought back to life.
He has been an ever-present figure in the Amakhosi line-up but things look to be different under new coach Middendorp, who is on record as saying he has no favourites in his team and everyone‚ including Katsande‚ will be benched on occasion as he employs specialised tactics for particular opposition.
Katsande has fallen victim to Middendorp’s rotation policy. He missed out on the Soweto derby in February.
But the former Zimbabwe captain says being left out of the team does not bother him.
“A professional footballer never gets angry at not playing. What I always do is to keep working hard because when I came to this club I never came in and started playing‚” said Katsande.
“There was a time when I was playing and someone was not playing so who am I to complain?”