Celtic braced for Chiefs backlash
LETSOAKA: A TEAM IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THEIR LAST GAME
Katsande issues a rallying call to his team-mates.
Kaizer Chiefs midfi grafter Willard Katsande has always had to be mentally strong, and has called on his team-mates to have the same mentality going into Amakhosi’s penultimate home game this season.
Amakhosi host Bloemfontein Celtic at FNB Stadium in Nasrec this evening on a back of a devastating defeat at the hands of log leaders, Mamelodi Sundowns. All things that could have gone wrong in Amakhosi’s 3-1 defeat by the Brazilians happened as defender Lorenzo Gordinho was red-carded, and Katsande scored an owngoal.
“We are professionals and we know such things happen in football,” Katsande said in an interview with Goal.com. Under normal circumstances, Amakhosi would be an obvious bet for a win over Phunya Sele Sele, but this season has been hard on Steve Komphela’s men and it would not be too much of a surprise if Celtic stole the show tonight.
Added to Chiefs’ indifferent performances this season, Celtic will be buoyed by their 5- 0 drubbing of Ajax Cape Town at the weekend and probably looking to prove it was not a fluke by repeating this against a more respected opponent.
Speaking to The Citizen this week, Celtic coach Serame Letsoaka said his challenge was to let his players know that a team is only as good as their last game and that they should not take Amakhosi lightly or they risk a backlash.
But if what Katsande said is anything to go by, Celtic should be ready for a torrid time.
“We have to forget our past game while learning from it, and lift ourselves up when we face Celtic. We know what is expected of us and we have to do it for the team and bounce back to win.
“The remaining three games won’t be easy for any team and we all know that. That’s why we have to focus on each game and win for ourselves, for the team, for the supporters and the whole Chiefs family,” he said.
Chiefs will be without Gordinho and Celtic will miss Bulelani Ndengane. Both are suspended for tonight’s game.
Kick-off is at 7.30pm.