Can Chiefs become SA’s ‘Invincibles?’

Amakhosi could follow in the footsteps of Arsenal and not lose a league match the entire season.


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The superb run by Kaizer Chiefs so far this season has invoked all sorts of things.


The bosses are on cloud nine, the coach in seventh heaven, the players on top of the world and the fans over the moon.


After all Chiefs are at the summit of the Absa Premiership table with 36 points and they are unbeaten in 14 matches, in which they won 11 and drew three.


With Chiefs beating their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates 2-0 in the Soweto Derby at the FNB Stadium in Joburg at the weekend, their confidence shot up with many saying that Chiefs could become the country’s Invincibles, a nickname given to English Premiership side Arsenal, who went an entire season without losing a single match in 2003-04 as they went on to become champions.


Though flattered, Chiefs coach Start Baxter says it is possible but he is not too concerned about going the season unbeaten.


“Because of the way we play, it is a possibility but is it something that is a must have in our game? It’s not a must have. We can take a defeat. We can take a bad performance. If we are real professionals and if we want to make South Africa proud, then we have got to be able to take a smack. I would just prepare the players for every game hoping to win. When that defeat comes along, that’s part of life. You pick yourself up and you got to get back to it.


“Real champions will do that,” said Baxter after goals by Siphiwe Tshabalala and Siphelele Mth-embu helped them to overcome Pirates and stretch their lead at the top. With over 10 points separating them and second-placed, many have already given the league to Chiefs.


The title is now theirs to lose.


Baxter says he’s taking it one step at a time.


“It’s always the same. When the team wins, the players are great and when the team loses the coach is useless. This wouldn’t be any different. If we lose this, the coach is useless. If we win the league, the players are great. I am used to that. I have been doing that for a long time now so I am a big boy.


“How are we going to prevent that from happening? We are just got to keep playing. As soon as we start thinking about that then we would be our worst enemy,” said Baxter.


Amakhosi’s emergence from the weekend with a win over their biggest rivals has done their confidence a world of good


Conversely the win may have dashed all hopes for Pirates, who are ninth and 18 points behind the log leaders.


Yet Pirates caretaker coach Eric Tinkler, who is in charge of the Buccaneers following therecent departure of Vladimir Vermezovic, says there’s still hope. The former Bafana Bafana midfielder says the players need to come out of their slump.


“Obviously it’s very difficult. We have lost five games. Any team that has lost up to six games, realistically, it becomes very difficult.


“The fact of the matter is that there’s still 51 points for us to try to win. There are 17 league games left.


“The season is far from over. We haven’t reached the halfway mark. For me, it is important that I remain positive until mathematically it’s not possible. I will be a reflection of the players if I give up how do you think the players are going to react to that. I believe we still stand a good chance.


“We just need to get a win under our belt and that could turn our season. I hope it would have been against Chiefs because I honestly believe it would have turned the tide,” said Tinkler.


In front of over 71 000 fans, things went horribly wrong for Pirates as they failed to stop Chiefs. Tinkler says Pirates have to rectify their mistakes in a quest to bounce back.


“Chiefs are like a well-oiled machine. They have been playing exceptionally well over the past couple of months creating a lot of chances.


“They found a lot of pockets in between our defence and midfielders. At half time I spoke about closing that space and unfortunately that didn’t happen and it actually led towards the first goal,” said Tinkler. “It’s important that everybody bounces back. I explained to the players in change room that we cannot think about the past. We need to concentrate on the future. What’s important is that they buckle down and work hard. We have a lot of work ahead of us from now until the December break.”


Chiefs will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to 15 games when they play Platinum Stars at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane tomorrow evening while Pirates will play host to Mamelodi Sundowns at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Wednesday evening. - The Star






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