OPINION: Kaizer Chiefs don’t want to end trophy drought!

Here's why I feel that AmaKhosi are not ready yet to end their 9-year trophy drought:

Determination to win has faded

13 Games in all competitions have been played by the club this season, with 4 wins and 6 defeats recorded. But there’s already been a few instances of their fighting spirit coming second best against a lot teams, including games where they’ve gone on to win.

This has often resulted in them being relegated to slight underdogs in most build ups to their games, and has subsequently led to the increase of negative banter towards the club and its management on social media.

But the bigger picture here is that the club is no longer seen as a contender in the league, and all the talk of dethroning Sundowns before the start of the season has been put to bed mainly by their poor showing more than anything else.

In the field of play, they do not take it up on themselves to register more scoring opportunities and just lack that willpower to be better than their opponents.

Sleeping on Opportunity

Twice this season I have felt that Chiefs are not realizing the opportunity to take advantage of their fixtures. In the MTN8, they had a great opportunity to beat Sundowns in two legs and advance to the final without the strongest team in Africa to worry about. Had they knocked out the Brazillians, Chiefs not only would have come into the final as clear favorites to win, but they would also enjoy the majority of the support from fans.

A similar situation has unfolded in the new Carling Knockout Cup where Rhulani Mokwena’s men were the first team to exit the competition after a 5 – 4 defeat to TS Galaxy on penalties at the Mbombela Stadium last Wednesday.

You would think that Molefi Ntseki would ensure that his team fully understand the importance of going all out to win this cup after Sundowns’ exit, but that was far from the case as they too were unable to beat AmaZulu at home on Saturday.

And honestly, the less said about that performance the better!

Ntseki yet to establish a clear football philosophy

54-year-old Ntseki is a former teacher and has been coaching for more than 25 years now, with most of his experience and accomplishments coming from the youth and amateur ranks.

And that is why the football fraternity was shocked when SAFA gave him an unprecedented five-year contract in August 2019 after Stuart Baxter resigned. Two years later, he failed to qualify Bafana for the Afcon finals and was sacked in March 2021.

His lack of first team coaching experience was always going to be a factor when times like this arrive, and at the moment I cannot help but compare him to his Pirates counterpart, Jose Riveiro.

It baffles me how the Spanish tactitian has shown better understanding of the South African game than both Arthur Zwane and Molefi Ntseki combined. Riveiro has been in Mzansi since June 2022.

Over and above this, Ntseki has shown no acknowledgement of the club’s struggles, even going to say that they are running their own race when asked about the pressure to do well. That is not good enough for kaizer Chiefs. The club cannot ‘run their own race’ while other teams are busy collecting trophies.