Chippa big threat to Chiefs’ hat-trick bid
CHIEFS ON A WINNING ROLL BUT PLAY THIRD GAME IN SIX DAYS
After Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas saw his side lose the derby last month, he insisted that the team was still capable of putting together a string of positive results and climbing their way up the table.
Now after successive 1-0 wins over SuperSport United, albeit in the Telkom Knockout quarter-finals, and Black Leopards on Wednesday, Chiefs go behind closed doors again in Durban tomorrow looking for a trio of successes when they host Chippa United.
It will be a third game in six days for Chiefs, whose resources are being stretched and who are, as Solinas is quick to admit, still far from the finished product.
But they are showing the guts and determination that he says he has been demanding to go along with the attacking flair which he wants the side to display.
“First choice for us is to play beautiful football and win, but if we are tired and fatigued then it really doesn’t matter how we play, as long as we get the points,” he says.
Punters who have been reluctant to put cash on Chiefs after their slow start to the season might be tempted now to back the side. But Solinas suggested that the game against Chippa will be a lot tougher than the narrow 1-0 win they eked out in midweek over Black Leopards, who were frankly better than them.
He says Chippa are a better side than Leopards and dangerous on the attack as they displayed when they dominated Orlando Pirates away in their cup tie last month.
It won’t help Chiefs’ cause tomorrow that there will be no fans to back them. No spectators are allowed as the last part of the club’s punishment for the rioting at the Durban venue last season.
Chippa, however, are a team that hasn’t got the expected results since Eric Tinkler was brought in to improve their performances and already there is talk of another managerial change in the offing.
There are several other important games in the Premier Soccer League this weekend, notably champions Sundowns pitting their unbeaten league record at home against Pirates and leaders Bidvest Wits at home to tricky Bloemfontein Celtic. They are mouthwatering contests for TAB soccer pools’ players with potentially big rewards who correctly forecast the outcomes.