Tough test for Chiefs
ANTICIPATION: CLASH SHAPING UP TO BE A CLASSIC
Both teams seem to have hit their straps ahead of showdown.
Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela will hope last weekend’s draw against Bidvest Wits was just a temporary inconvenience and doesn’t affect his team’s new found winning spirit going into tonight’s Absa Premiership match which has all the ingredients for an epic.
Amakhosi have a date with high-flying Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium at 7.30pm and with Fadlu Davids’ team’s displays mirroring that of a bull at the Pamplona Bull Run, the match could be a spectacle.
Komphela’s team are more cautious in their play with more focus put on shutting the back door. While this has helped them win some games, it has also proved detrimental as player focus wears off towards the end.
“We gave it away,” has been Komphela’s common cry after matches over the past two seasons and this came to haunt them in their last match.
Komphela’s approach is firm, which has seen skilful players like Joseph Molangoane and Hendrik Ekstein struggle to get regular places in his team.
Hard workers like Siphiwe Tshabalala, Bongolethu Jayiya and George Maluleka are preferable for the style Komphela wants to play.
Komphela is, however, happy that his team have found a winning spirit which he hopes will carry them through again tonight.
“Chiefs and winning are synonymous. All our fixtures are big games. Our opponents also rise to the occasion when they play against Chiefs,” said the 50-yearold.
If there is one thing which Maritzburg’s Davids seems to have instilled into his players it is that while winning is a priority, they still have to enjoy the match. And for players to enjoy themselves, Davids has given them the freedom to express their natural talent and it has worked well so far this season.
Players like Siphesihle Ndlovu, Bandile Shandu, Deolin Mekua, Lebogang Maboe and Evans Rusike have been in scintillating form and their energetic displays have proved too much for the likes of Platinum Stars and Ajax Cape Town and could be troublesome for Amakhosi’s sometimes static defence.
Chiefs and winning are synonymous. All our fixtures are big games.
Steve Komphela Kaizer Chiefs coach