Kaizer Chiefs’ Premier League championship aspirations appeared to have been firmly buried underground in Rustenburg’s mining territory on Saturday afternoon following a less than inspiring 0-0 draw against Free State Stars at Olympia Park.
The Amakhosi now trail log leaders and defending champions SuperSport United by eight points with only five games remaining. Nothing short of a soccer miracle will enable them to vault over the M-Net owned club and second-placed Orlando Pirates in what appears a doomed attempt to earn further honours this season — having already suffered an early elimination from the Nedbank Cup.
In warm, balmy conditions at a venue officially deemed Chiefs’ home ground for this fixture, Amakhosi confirmed that this Rustenburg setting is anything but a-home-from-home for the one-time glamour club.
Chiefs badly missed two of their most inspirational players in Simphiwe Tshabalala and Tinashe Nengomasha, as well as injured Venezuelan international striker, Jose Torrealba, but even the
disillusioned Amakhosi supporters in the 9 000 crowd were lamenting afterwards how the mighty have fallen.
As for the battling Free State club, who were wallowing in the relegation zone earlier in the season but have now moved into a relatively comfortable mid-log position after losing only one of a dozen games since Steve Komphela assumed the role of coach, it was another in a string of encouraging performances.
And recalling as well that Stars had already beaten Chiefs in their earlier Premier League tussle this season, a feather would certainly be appropriate at this moment in the cap of the Free State team’s coach and former Bafana captain.
A Chiefs’ goal was correctly disallowed for off-side in the 35th minute after Arthur Zwane had missed a golden-headed opportunity 10 minutes earlier, but, in the main, the teams were well-matched and a draw was a fair enough result.
Chiefs coach Muhsin Ertugral afterwards described the proceedings as ”summer soccer” that had provided the crowd with no great value for their money.
”Sadly we seemed to lack a degree of urgency that was so essential for the occasion,” he added, ”and Stars were clearly happy enough to finish with a draw.”
Komphela said his team had shown they had nothing to fear from Chiefs and had matched them in all departments.
”Remember,” he added, ”we were the away team and coming away with a point in these circumstances was totally satisfactory.”
But with neither of the goalkeepers, Itumeleng Khune for Chiefs and Kennedy Mweene in Stars’ goal, severely tested in the second period, there is no chance at all of the rambling Rustenburg encounter featuring as one of the game’s of the season. — Sapa