Staff Reporter.
Kaizer Chiefs will celebrate their 53rd birthday on Saturday and will hope they can do it with another victory over resurgent Sekhukhune United in the DStv Premiership.
Despite enduring a largely inconsistent 2022/23 campaign, Chiefs head into their next game on the back of two consecutive wins in the DStv Premiership.
The two victories came against arch rivals Orlando Pirates and also, Golden Arrows, as coach Arthur Zwane continues his revolution at Naturena.
Chiefs are currently in 4th place on the log, after amassing 24 points after 14 games. As the home side, Chiefs have three wins, two draws and one loss to their name in six matches played at the FNB Stadium this season.
Speaking ahead of the tie, Zwane believes his side can still challenge for the league trophy and that the title chase will go down to the wire.
“There are still 16 games to play and I would concur with Sundowns coach Rulani who said the league has never been won in January,” Zwane said.
“Our focus is to look at ourselves and what we can improve. We’ll take one game at a time and in every game we play to win maximum points. I hope in all the remaining games we’ll be able to grind out the results and be up there to compete with the best.
“Look at SuperSport and [third-placed] Richards Bay — they’re doing well and Sundowns are leading the pack. It’s never going to be an easy one and I believe it will go down to the wire.”
As for Sekhukhune, the travelling outfit head into the Chiefs game following a morale boosting 3-2 win over Marumo Gallants on Tuesday evening.
After breaking their four-match winless streak, Sekhukhune now find themselves in 12th spot, having recorded 15 points from 14 games played.
In making their way to Soweto, Sekhukhune are still looking for their first away win in the 22/23 campaign. In seven games on the road, Sekhukhune recorded four losses and three draws.
With Chiefs on the horizon, Daniel Cardoso mentioned that little motivation is needed when facing the PSL’s ‘Big Three’ and that players will be hungry to prove a point.
“Look, we’ve just come from two games, picked up four points, should have been six points.
“We dropped points against AmaZulu, I thought we shouldn’t have dropped, picking up six points would have put less pressure on us going into this one.
“It’s a big game, a big team and as I said before, when I spoke about Pirates, when you come up against Chiefs, Pirates, Sundowns, the motivation’s already there.
“Players are hungry, players want to prove a point, younger players are looking for contracts, so it’s going to be an exciting game.”