The new season of the MTN8 and the newly designed trophy for the tournament has whetted the appetite of Kaizer Chiefs’ new coach Molefi Ntseki for trophies.
Chiefs have defied their ‘Cup kings of South African football’ tag in recent years, having endured a trophy drought for the last eight seas
That state of affairs hasn’t gone down well with their supporters who have had to endure mockery from their counterparts at Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.
Chiefs, though, have put plans in place in hope of redeeming themselves this season.
They’ve appointed Ntseki as the new mentor, while they’ve made several new signings after getting rid of some deadwood.
Ntseki relinquished his role as the head of technical and youth development at the club to take over the reins from Arthur Zwane, who has been demoted back to an assistant role.
After players such as Eric Mathoho and Cole Alexander left Amakhosi, the likes of Thatayaone Ditlhokwe, Given Msimango, Edson Castillo and Mduduzi Mdantsane turned up at Naturena.
Chiefs’ start to the season has been lukewarm, though. They drew with Chippa United in the opening game of the DStv Premiership, before losing 2-1 to champions Sundowns on Wednesday.
However, they’ll be hunting for their first win of the season against Cape Town City in the first round of the MTN8 at Athlone Stadium on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).
And with a new trophy up for grabs this season, Chiefs are eager to emulate that class of 15 years ago who won the new-looking MTN8 in its debut in the 2008 season.
“I think it’s good motivation for all of us – the new players and new technical team to look at it as an opportunity to say ‘Let’s win this one and get settled’,” Ntseki said during the tournament launch in Johannesburg yesterday.
“We also want to give confidence to the supporters and ourselves as the club. We are looking forward to doing our best in this tournament. So, if things work out well, we’ll be the first one to win this trophy.”
And having his predecessors come and go without a trophy gracing the club’s cabinet, Ntseki will know that talk is cheap – especially in a cup competition, where goals and clean sheets are key.
But having scored one goal this season – courtesy of Ashley du Preez against Sundowns – Ntseki is hopeful that his entire team will step up to challenge in this competition.
“Goals will be coming,” Ntseki said. “I think that is the rotation that we are working on – to get the players playing. Ash didn’t start last week, but he started this week and got us a goal.
“Some players came in and they contributed positively for the team. So, we are looking at everybody – not only strikers – to score goals from everywhere, including set-pieces.”
Unlike Chiefs, the Citizens are already soaring in front of goal and solid at the back.
They won both their first two matches against Polokwane City and Moroka Swallows in the league, with zero goals conceded.
Those results have put them in a confident mindset ahead of the showdown with Amakhosi, especially given the fact that they also won when the two teams met in the season finale last term.
Ntseki, though, is not worried.
Instead, he’s banking on his troops to rise to the occasion and try to avoid last season’s dramatic exit from the competition.
“We are looking at it that way – to say ‘It’s a competition and it’s 11 v 11, tactically and mentally’. We are ready as a team,” Ntseki said.
“And having scored a goal yesterday (Wednesday) brings confidence in the team to say ‘Yes, we can score goals’. Scoring goals will be the most important part.
“In a cup game like this, you must score goals to win. Last season, we didn’t lose a game but we were booted out of the cup (on the away goal rule after drawing 1-1 with AmaZulu in the two-leg semi-final).”
IOL Sport