Kaizer Chiefs' trophy drought extended to yet another season, but the Glamour Boys have a chance to save their season if Cavin Johnson can turnaround the club's fortunes in the last stretch of the DStv Premiership.
What’s at stake?
Johnson is hopeful that his rivals will come across a banana skin and allow Amakhosi to catch up and potentially overtake the likes of SuperSport United, Cape Town City, Sekhukhune United, Stellenbosch, TS Galaxy, and Pirates.
However, the Chiefs mentor will have to keep his side of the bargain and make sure that the Glamour Boys do not drop a significant number of points as they still have to face defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Matsatsantsa A Pitori.
The Glamour Boys come at the back of a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Chippa United, and the rationale of going ahead with the fixture after losing a member of their squad, Luke Fleurs, who was slain this past week, is questionable.
Given the short distance between those competing for spots in the Caf Champions League and Caf Confederation Cup (2nd and 3rd respectively) and the teams vying for a top-half finish – Amakhosi find themselves in a position where they could potentially miss out on both trains if they don’t turn around the corner.
Chiefs are currently occupying the eighth spot on the log, but they can go further down as there are only five points that separate Amakhosi from 14th-placed Swallows.
Previous seasons
Molefi Ntseki and Arthur Zwane will not mention their time as Amakhosi head coaches with pride as they were constantly under scrutiny and did not have the confidence of the Chiefs faithful on their side. ‘10111’ was sacked about six months into his role and was demoted to being Ntseki’s righthand man.
When Ntseki ascended to the hot seat, it was a transition period for Amakhosi but the former Bafana Bafana mentor could not absorb the pressure and was released by the club.
In the past two seasons, Chiefs have finished in position five, but Johnson has an opportunity to improve on that. Chiefs have collected 30 points and are eight behind second-placed Stellenbosch.
Johnson’s audition
The vastly experienced Johnson was at pains trying to explain how his side lost to the Chilli Boys, and in the same breath, admitted that the club are doing a lot of self-seeking ahead of their next tie.
The Chiefs mentor will have almost two weeks to sharpen the saw before heading to Richards Bay.
Having joined the club as the head of academy, the former Al Ahly assistant coach was always going to be in the management’s back pocket as an option to lean on his experience.
Indeed, Johnson was parachuted into the top job when Chiefs’ fans bayed for Ntseki’s blood.
Johnson has had a couple of positive results and if he manages to finish higher than fifth (Chiefs’ finishing position in the last two campaigns) the club’s top brass might consider installing him on a permanent basis.
Chiefs are expected to decide on who their full-time head coach will be, and if Johnson’s results in the last stretch of the league are impressive, he will have a big shout for the hot seat.
Amakhosi’s next opponent
Chiefs will travel to the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium on April 20 where they will confront the Natal Rich Boyz who are looking to make the most of the remaining fixtures to save their top-flight status.
As it stands, Vusumuzi Vilakazi’s side are heading to the promotion playoffs but could find themselves in more trouble as Ernst Middendorp’s Cape Town Spurs are hot on their heels, making their encounter against Chiefs a must-win.
On face value, this should be a relatively easy fixture for Amakhosi as the Natal Rich Boyz only have 17 points on the board and are at risk of losing their top-flight status.
Chiefs’ recent form
Chiefs’ winning record is sitting in the negative as they have registered more defeats than victories, paired with six draws. However, it is their recent form that sets alarm bells for Johnson.
Amakhosi dropped 10 points in their last five DStv Premiership outings, losing to Soweto foes Pirates and second-placed Stellies while playing draw against Moroka Swallows.
While Chiefs did produce an entertaining Soweto derby against the Buccaneers, scoring two of the five-goal thriller – Johnson’s side has been relatively poor in front of goal for most of the season.
Chiefs’ attack force have only forged 19 goals so far in the league, being the only six sides who are yet to hit the 20-goal mark.
𝐅𝐓 | 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐚 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 2️⃣-0️⃣ 𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) April 6, 2024
𝑩𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒖 𝑬𝒗𝒂 𝑵𝒈𝒂 and Sinoxolo Kwayiba strike in the first-half to give the Chilli Boys a win over Amakhosi 🎯#DStvPrem pic.twitter.com/apR6BpO3Xc
