Kaizer Chiefs’ clinical display against Orbit College eases scoring concerns

Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze couldn’t hide his satisfaction after his side soared to their biggest win of the season, thrashing newcomers Orbit College 4-1 in the Betway Premiership Tuesday night.

The Glamour Boys raced to an impressive 22 points from their 11 matches and kept their title-chasing dreams alive with back-to-back wins, following their triumph over Durban City (1-0) the previous week.

It hasn’t been a smooth-sailing season, but this win highlighted the notable improvements in this season’s Chiefs side compared to last campaign, particularly their ability to secure results even on off-days.

Not much was off in their emphatic triumph against Orbit, and with their points tally already just 10 shy of last season’s total from 28 matches, the team can only grow stronger from here. The win also eased a lingering concerns about finding the back of the net.

The Glamour Boys' mentor, Kaze, expressed satisfaction with their performance, and although he believes there is still work to be done to achieve greater consistency across all phases of the game, he was pleased with the outcome.

“We got into the game with the right attitude and mentality,” Kaze said after the match.

Amakhosi have managed to score five goals in their last two league outings, backing up the three goals they scored in the CAF Confederations Cup second preliminary round against AS Simba. Kaze believes this improvement is no surprise, as the team has been playing decent football but previously lacked a clinical finishing touch.

“I believe since the beginning the performances were there, but it was only the goals that were missing. When the performance is there, you first need to give confidence to the players and also find the right combination and be clinical,” he added.

“Some players miss chances today, and you have to give them the confidence to go again the next day because bad games can happen.

“We also had a lot of injuries, but with players coming back, it helps, and the competitiveness in training also helps and improves everyone.”

Mduduzi Shabalala is one of South Africa’s brightest talents and, for much of the past two seasons, has shouldered significant responsibility as Chiefs underwent a lot of transition.

This season has not been as smooth as he would have liked, but the clash against Orbit saw one of his brightest performances of the campaign, scoring two goals and providing an assist.

Kaze was pleased with Shabalala’s display on Tuesday but emphasized that the young player still has work to do, as he has not yet fully tapped into his potential.

“A player like Shabalala is a player that has a lot of margin to improve. He is still 21 years old, and he will still improve in a lot of areas. One of them is that as a number ten, he needs to contribute more in the areas he is supposed to help with—the goals and assists.

“Sometimes for him to make the right decisions and pass, there were moments in the past when he got into the box and took more touches than needed, but it’s something we are correcting every day. The good thing is that he is willing to learn every day.”