The Amakhosi’s off season signing Mabhudi Khenyeza was the crowd favourite and received the largest cheer of the morning on Friday when he was introduced to learners at the Phakhati combined school, where Chiefs were out on a social responsibility exercise in Pinetown close to Durban.

Khenyeza who comes from Kwa-Zulu Natal has a huge fan base in his home province and remains a popular figure amongst fans in Natal, where he made a name for himself during his five seasons with the Durban based club Golden Arrows.

On Friday the striker who was on target during Chiefs opening day success over Benoni United, shied away from the lime light and after quickly stepping forward and waving to the kids he quietly stepped back and out of the spotlight once he had been introduced.

One thing is for certain though and that is that Mabhudi won’t shy away from getting involved in the thick of battle when Chiefs meet Cosmos at The ABSA Stadium on Saturday evening, in a match which Mabhudi believes that Chiefs have nothing to fear and need to win to send out a message to the rest of the league that The Amakhosi are serious about winning the title this season.

Mabhudi follows the line taken by his coach Muhsin Ertugral that Cosmos are amongst the title contenders; he does feel that when he makes reappearance in Durban on Saturday it will end in Chiefs first league victory over Ezenkosi in over two years.

Confident Khenyeza

While Cosmos have amongst the toughest and most combatitive defenders in the Premier Soccer League, the Chiefs striker is not in the least perturbed by having to fight off the accomplished Burundian international defender Valery Nahayo. Or Thapelo Tshilo who had a decent game at the back for the South African Olympic team against their Nigeria counterparts on Wednesday evening.

“Cosmos are a team who have in recent years enhanced their reputation by regularly finishing in the top eight; in addition they have made it to a number of cup finals and semifinals over the past few seasons. While their recent success is commendable it is not something that will worry us as this is a new season, we are not in awe of them in any way the real issue is that our aim is to win this game and I am sure that we will get the three points”.

Ready to rewrite history

Khenyeza will be looking to mark his return to Durban by helping Chiefs register a win on Saturday, added to that he is aiming to continue off with where he left off against Benoni United.

“Playing in Durban is always going to special to me because of my association with the city and with the province of Kwa-Zulu natal at home and I appreciate all the fans that Chiefs have in the town and all my fans that are down there. The best way for me to demonstrate my appreciation will be by getting amongst the goals on Saturday, and make sure that we register our first league win over them since 2005” added Mabhudi.

Important encounter

Games against teams tipped as league contenders are a must win encounter for Chiefs and according to Mabhudi that cannot be negotiated in such high level fixtures, and a win against Cosmos on Saturday will do a lot of good to Chiefs title hopes.

Khenyeza explained further by adding “The fact that Cosmos have been tipped by many to play a leading role in the league this season, means that we will be up against a tough opponent on Saturday. We too will need to be at our best and having to play a team like Cosmos so early on is a good thing for us, as it affords us with the opportunity of taking points off them and should we be able to do so it will only bode well for our optimism and confidence for the months ahead”.