Zwane rues missed chances
ACCORDING to Arthur Zwane, Kaizer Chiefs’ reserve team’s shortcomings in terms of claiming the championship do not overshadow the fact that they are the best developed team in the feeder league.
Zwane and his troops are seventh on the MDC log standings as they trail leaders Cape Town City by seven points, and with only nine more points still up for grabs.
By this extent, the league will likely go to the Mother-City or City of Roses (where Bloemfontein Celtic originates from) as the two teams are joint on 26 points, while the former leads the pack on a six-plus goal difference.
However, that hasn’t dented the bigger picture in Chiefs mandates as they’ve by far played the most mesmerising football. Add to that the fact Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya is commanding a regular berth in the senior team, while Nkosingiphile Ngcobo willl be representing Amajita in Africa Youth Championships (AYC).
“By now, we should be at least on 21 points,” the Chiefs’ coach said.
“Then all of them (the league contenders) were going to be coming to us, and not that I disrespect them but (they were never going to match us).
“Sometimes in South Africa we take football for granted because as coaches we don’t want to develop players, we want to play to win because as coaches we are looking for jobs and all of that.
“This dominance didn’t start today, we’ve been preparing these boys mentally, physically and psychologically.”
Like any other team, Chiefs had aspirations of claiming the the Diski honours this season but their complacency in front of goals let them down.
Furthermore, had it not been for their casualness at home, they’d now be among the pacesetters in the feeder league.
“Our ball rotation is on another level. AmaZulu only relied on playing the ball forward, as they were hoping that they could counterattack us,” Zwane said after his team’s 4-1 victory against Usuthu.
“We knew that was the only thing that they could do but we have a very dynamic team, that has mobile players who are highly technical.
“I am not saying this because I know too much or I am dreaming. but this league was easy for us to win but we have only ourselves to blame – because we had planned thoroughly for it.”
While Amajita will be flying the South African flag high in the AYC tournament in Niger in pursuit of reaching their second successive global showpiece, the 45-yearold coach has urged his coaching compatriots to form a forum as they try to plough back to development football.
The minute we start developing players properly the better for us as a nation,” Zwane said. “Unfortunately, we don’t see things the same. And, let me also say that the resources as well are not the same.
“But if we can sit down, and maybe have a forum of coaches and sit down and talk about football then we can see if we think alike and I think that’d be for the best, especially in terms of developing players for the country. “