Beautiful game right in tune with Solinas
Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas has said – after a second gritty 1-0 win against Free State Stars – that he wants to play beautiful football‚ but most important is the result.
At one stage this season‚ as new coach Solinas found his feet at one of the biggest-supported teams in Africa‚ he seemed hell-bent on attacking football.
Perhaps this was an attempt to win favour with Chiefs’ supporters. It worked for a while‚ with three stirring victories in September that saw Solinas win Absa Premiership coach of the month.
After a far tougher October‚ culminating in a 2-1 Soweto derby defeat against Orlando Pirates‚ Chiefs have notably tightened up their approach.
A more measured gameplan has seen Amakhosi fight out 1-0 wins against SuperSport United in the Telkom Knockout quarterfinals in Durban on Sunday‚ then again in their PSL match against Stars on Wednesday.
“I repeat – when it’s possible play beautiful football. The fans also enjoy this beautiful football. And to get the result [too]‚ this is the best‚” Solinas said after the Stars win.
“Beautiful football and the result – this is the best. But sometimes this is not possible.
“It’s not possible to play champagne football in every game. Sometimes when you do not play well‚ this is the moment when you need to fight and get the result.
“But my target is‚ I want to play well. I want to play well‚ I want to try to play good football – beautiful football.
“But the reality sometimes is not this. When it’s not possible to play well‚ please‚ get the result.”
The victory against Stars‚ thanks to Willard Katsande’s 42nd-minute headed winner‚ saw Amakhosi move from seventh to ninth in the PSL.
Chiefs meet Chippa United at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 6pm) in a league match played behind closed doors.
This is the second of their games to be played in front of no crowd in Durban as part of Amakhosi’s sentence for the pitch invasion by their fans after last season’s loss against Stars.