Mphahlele leads Chiefs ‘very well at the back’

PLAYER of the Match Ramahlwe Mphahlele and Sabelo Radebe were the star performers for Kaizer Chiefs in their slender 1-0 Premiership win over Sekhukhune United on Saturday.

The victory raised hopes of a CAF berth when the season ends later this month. Chiefs are in fourth place on the league standings and a win in their final match this weekend may be enough to qualify for the Confederation Cup next season.

Central defender Mphahlele scored the winner at Ellis Park. He was also instrumental in helping the team to a second clean sheet in three matches after he blocked a goal-bound shot by Sekhukhune’s well-travelled striker Prince Nxumalo early in the second half.

Mphahlele has strong emotional ties with the venue. He made his debut there for Swallows FC as a 17-year-old in 2007 when he was still at school.

Amakhosi caretaker co-coach Arthur Zwane praised the seasoned Mphahlele for supporting fellow defender Siyabonga Ngezana who battled to contain Sekhukhune’s live Zimbabwean striker Charlton Mashumba, who posed a danger in central positions in the striking zone.

“He led the team very well at the back and was guiding Siya as well,” said Zwane.

“Siya started very, very slow, but the confidence got better during the game. I am just happy for them. Let us hope we take this to the next game.”

Radebe featured strongly as an attacking midfielder and was deployed behind striker Khama Billiat. He was a veritable source of attacking opportunities and on the evidence of Saturday’s display, he was under-used this season.

He came within a whisker of joining Mphahlele on the scoresheet. However, his header was denied by Zambian goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata in the second half.

“So, I’m happy for Sabelo and many other players and Rama as well,” said Zwane.

“At this level, you want to win games. Sometimes you win them scrappy like this one in the second half.

“What is key right now is to grind out results, build on that and gain confidence. This will help the boys to start believing in themselves even more.

“I’m happy seeing Sabelo fighting and fit in so well. I’m happy for him.

“Hopefully, he’ll start enjoying himself because he is one player that is very, very good on the ball and at Kaizer Chiefs, we want to play football. We don’t just want to kick the ball forward.”

The statistics show that Sekhukhune enjoyed more possession and won the shots at goal count 13-10. Their problem was that they tried playing too much football deep inside their own half when the better option was clear their defensive lines.

Chiefs on the other hand often lost their way in the final third and this is an aspect for the coaches to work on. Zwane said the team battled to apply the pressure throughout the match and were tiring towards the end.

“We made it very difficult for ourselves. I think in the first half we started very well. We took control of the game, we dictated terms,” said Zwane.

“We showed we could score at any given time though we did not create a lot of goalscoring opportunities. We got the goal from a dead-ball situation.

“In the second half, we were a little bit flat. We could even see some of the players cramping and we had to pull off Khama and Cole (Alexander). Even Bernard (Parker) was cramping.”

This week, Chiefs sign off for the season with a home fixture at FNB Stadium in a Soweto derby against Swallows.