Chiefs as stale as Swallows
I came to this match to cover football, as usual, but such was the anger and bitterness among Kaizer Chiefs supporters that I could well have ended the day as a war correspondent had the match not been stopped by rain in the 57th minute.
At the time of filing the match was set to resume at 8.10pm. Not that anything better happened for Amakhosi in their engagement with fellow struggling Sowetans Moroka Swallows in a Soweto derby that has become a disappointment in recent years as both sides’ fortunes dwindled.
A 0-0 draw was still going to be a very bad result, especially for Chiefs, who are ending an unprecedented ninth season without a trophy.
Nothing was more embarrassing for Chiefs than last Sunday when Cavin Johnson’s charges were knocked out of the last 32 of the Nedbank Cup by Milford FC, a KwaZulu-Natal-based first division team that was campaigning in the amateur ranks just a year ago.
That Chiefs fans didn’t respond with violence against the club’s interim coach Johnson after seeing their beloved team losing 54 on penalties to Milford was a miracle Chiefs fans have responded with violence four times this season.
Perhaps Amakhosi fans were so taken aback by last week’s result that they lost the energy to react. Had a 10-man Chiefs suffered a defeat here against a Swallows side that came here winless in eight previous DStv Premiership games, one could not have ruled out a worse situation erupting.
Chiefs defender Edmilson Dove put his team under pressure when he got a red card just two minutes after the restart after fouling Swallows striker Gabadinho Mhango.
Molefi Ntseki, the seventh coach to guide the side in their nine barren years, had to leave the club at the end of October after Chiefs fans pelted the former Bafana Bafana coach with missiles. This was after Chiefs had been booted out in the first round of the Carling Knockout Cup by AmaZulu FC.
The violent behaviour began in August at the Mbombela Stadium after a 1-0 loss to TS Galaxy; it continued in another league loss against SuperSport United in September before the fans erupted when Mamelodi Sundowns knocked Chiefs out in the semifinals of the MTN8 in the same month.
The severest of punishments the PSL has meted to Chiefs this season was sanctioning them to play at least one match behind closed doors a 3-2 home win against rookies Cape Town Spurs on November 8.
The Spurs match came three days before Chiefs met Orlando Pirates in the first round of the Soweto derby the derby that everyone is still excited about even though both clubs are battling to catch up with Sundowns, who are set to win a seventh successive league title this season.
Chiefs’ loss against Milford came when it was clear there was no likelihood they could catch Sundowns in the league. Johnson would have preferred to go to the secondround league encounter against Pirates here on Saturday on the back of positive results. After this Swallows match Chiefs will meet Lamontville Golden Arrows here on Tuesday in a game that may give some indication of where they will be form-wise by the time they meet Pirates.
The Buccaneers beat Polokwane City 1-0 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium yesterday and will come to the derby in better shape, especially if they bag another win against Spurs in Orlando on Wednesday.
The victory moved Bucs to fourth spot and 13 points below Sundowns, who have two games in hand. Based on current form, it is Pirates who will start Saturday’s derby not only as favourites, but as a team with the chance to finish as runners-up to Sundowns again in the league.