Opinion: Chiefs v Stellenbosch: No time for Amakhosi to cry Mayoo!

Kaizer Chiefs return to action on Sunday against wounded Stellenbosch, with both teams battling a crisis of confidence following some wayward and awkward performances of late.

Therefore, the Carling Knockout Cup’s round-of-16 scheduled for the DHL Stadium in Cape Town provides Stellies an opportunity to erase memories of their loss to Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final.

Reaching this cup’s final in back-to-back seasons and losing on both occasions obviously hurt coach Steve Barker and his wards.

If the cup form for the Western Cape-based side has offered hope, the same cannot be said about their Betway Premiership displays. Disastrous!

One win in nine league outings is the depressing story for Stellenbosch this season. Part of the justification could be that they are rebuilding after releasing some players such as Brian Onyango.But to be flank, the core of their team remains intact. Next excuse please?

Are they perhaps paying the price of having competed in too many competitions last season, including the CAF Confederation Cup? Barker suggested that they signed new players while the season was in progress hence need time to gel.

“There is a little bit of confidence and a lack of belief,” Baker told the media recently.

Stellenbosch need a return to winning ways and fast. The Carling Knockout provides that platform to right the wrongs. Few players carry such burden of scoring responsibility than Andre de Jong.

In the other camp, Chiefs did barely enough to cross the line into the next stage of the Confederation against Kabuscorp from Angola via post-match penalties last week.

However, if their Betway Premiership form is anything to go by, they are struggling, especially to put away the chances.

Chiefs’ interim co-coach Khalid Ben Youssef admitted on the same in a recent interview with SuperSport Television.

“I said it before, we are struggling in the last third,” he said.

The Soweto giants are winless in three straight league games, their five-game unbeaten streak at the start of the campaign now a fading distant memory on the horizon.

In midweek, Chiefs came from behind to force a one-all draw against AmaZulu FC. This match was characterized by what in the public gallery was seen as Khanyisa Mayo’s selfishness.

Can the on-loan blonde-haired striker redeem himself? He has too—this is not the time to cry mayoo! And Mduduzi Shabalala, can you come to the rescue again?

What does head-to-head say?

The Glamour Boys and Stellies have faced each other 17 times across all fronts—AmaKhosi dominating with 10 wins with the rest being three defeats and four draws. Encouraging results? Of course.

However, with head coach Narseddine Nabi unavailable on the dugout for Chiefs amid reports that he is on the exit door, you just cannot be certain of who really is in charge between interim co-head coaches Cedric Kaze and Youssef.

The co-coaching concept has not generally worked in South African football. Little wonder, many teams are abandoning this policy. Over to you monsieur Kaze and Youssef!