Billiat worry for Chiefs
Sibongiseni Gumbi
Kaizer Chiefs could be forced to do battle without two of their key players when they host Black Leopards for a Telkom Knockout last-16 match at FNB Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Amakhosi will be without Lebogang Manyama, who was injured in a car accident earlier in the week and Khama Billiat is now also doubtful after picking up a knock on duty for Zimbabwe in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Chiefs said yesterday Manyama would be out for “up to six weeks” with a fractured elbow, while Billiat has a back injury and will undergo a fitness test later today to see if he can be included in Sunday’s match-day squad.
Coach Giovanni Solinas (pictured) said his team has had bad luck in terms of injuries. “They are all okay – except for Khama who has a small problem. We will however make the decision with the doctors tomorrow. It is not a serious problem but I don’t know if Khama will be able to play,” said Solinas yesterday.
“We are fighting against bad luck. But we will continue to fight. We will beat this bad luck. It started with Joseph (Malongoane), then it was (Leonardo) Castro, now it is Lebo.
“But we have good players and if Lebo can’t play, we have other options. It is a pity because he was getting back to his best and he played well in the Macufe Cup. It is a pity he is now injured,” added Solinas.
After the last Fifa break in September, Solinas’ team came out firing on all cylinders, winning all three of their Absa Premiership matches, and the 50-year-old said he hopes for more of the same this time around, saying they used it to fine-tune where they were not as sharp as they should be.
“We hope the international break was helpful. We worked hard every day to prepare for this game. I am very happy with the commitment the players showed. We continue to try and improve,” he said.
There is general belief that the Chiefs players might be distracted in the Leopards game by the highly anticipated Soweto derby – they play long-time rivals Orlando Pirates on October 27 in the Premiership.
“The derby is a very important game … but before the derby we have a very important game on Sunday,” said Solinas.
Knowledge Musona scored again for Zimbabwe this weekend, as they beat DR Congo in Kinshasa to put themselves in pole position to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. It was Musona’s fourth goal in qualifying, following his hat trick in the opening Group G match against Liberia. In Kinshasa, Musona capitalised on a mistake from DRC goalkeeper Anthony Ngawi, rounded the keeper and slotted home. Zimbabwe drew with the DRC in their home game three days later, but still top the group with eight points, three points clear of the DRC, with two games left to play.
The pitch, the refereeing, the ball boys. Stuart Baxter was pulling out every excuse in the book on Wednesday as Bafana arrived home from the Seychelles, having only managed a goalless draw in Victoria against a country with no professional league, ranked 189th in the world. As much as the 6-0 win over the Seychelles at home on Saturday had raised spirits, to fail to finish the job away from home reflected poorly on the Bafana coach, particularly as he barely took any responsibility for the performance himself, also pointing to a penalty that wasn’t a penalty and a “goal” that was offside, while tactically he acted strangely in only making one substitution when his side were firing blanks at the Stade Linite.