Saturday saw Kaizer Chiefs lose their eighth game of the season, leaving many to wonder if there are any positives to take from their showing this season. Sporting Director Kaizer Motaung Jr addressed this question in a press conference ahead of the Soweto Derby.
Motaung Jr highlighted the team’s youth project as one of their successes, pointing to teenage forward Mduduzi Shabalala as an example. Shabalala, who was still doing matric at the start of the season, has been featuring prominently in Arthur Zwane’s line-up since the new year and scored his second goal of the season in a 3-2 loss to Golden Arrows this past Sunday.
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“It’s not a good situation to be in but at the same time there has been positives, we’re sitting here with a young Mduduzi Shabalala who is 18 and just scored his second goal of the season,” Motaung Jr said. “An immense talent, it speaks to a lot of plans and preparations from our academy and how we plan to integrate into the first team. We’ve gone back to our culture, we’re integrating our youth. That’s a massive component for us and something that we’re going to continue to do moving forward.”
The former Amakhosi striker also noted that the team’s brand of football has improved, where they are now on the ball and attacking more, something that has been overlooked due to negative results.
“Not enough has been said about the brand of football that we play. Yes, there have been games where, in any situation… Man City lost to Southampton, a team that is at the bottom of the log,” Motaung Jr said. “So for me, it’s a case of we need to be objective and if we’re looking at the current football we’re playing, there has been a massive improvement. We’re on the ball, we’re attacking and that’s the kind of style we’ve planned to play for.”
