“I hope we can bring something home,” reacts Kaizer Chiefs captain Tefu Mashamaite with a twinkle in his eye, while looking at the possibility to win the league title on Wednesday evening.

That’s when Amakhosi host Polokwane City at the FNB Stadium (kick-off at 19:30).

Mashamaite indicated at Chiefs’ media day on Monday being happy about how the season went so far: “In future, we will be able to look back and be proud. For example, we went on an unbeaten run of 19 games, which is fantastic.”

Chiefs also conceded only 11 goals in 26 matches. Still, with Amakhosi losing a few games in quick succession earlier this year - against SuperSport United and Maritzburg United - some media were already predicting that a repeat of last season could be a possibility.

At the time, Chiefs were also far ahead, but Mamelodi Sundowns managed to catch up and even go on to win the Absa Premiership.

Mashamaite, however, was never too worried about that: “I can’t always be worried about what happened in the past. For example, I can’t be worried the whole time about apartheid. It’s important to look forward. You learn lessons from the past and you move ahead.”

The coach also stressed at some stage: “Don’t worry about Sundowns’ results. We must focus on what we are doing, our results.”

Asked if Mashamaite was indeed not worried at all with the writing in the media and with some supporters being critical, he reacts: “If you worry too much about things outside your control, you just create a cloud of confusion.”

Another topic is pressure. “How do you deal with that,” one journalist asked Amakhosi’s captain.

“Pressure is the most abused word in South African soccer,” Mashamaite answered. “We have a chance to win the league. What pressure is that? That’s not pressure, that’s something beautiful.”

Mashamaite is also not worried about the fact that none of the Chiefs players scored more than six league goals this season. “We have various players who have scored - Mandla Masango, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, George Lebese, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Bernard Parker, Erick Mathoho, Siyabonga Nkosi, Siphelele Mthembu, Kingston Nkhatha before he left and myself. Winning is a team effort.”

Tickets are sold at the Computicket for R40 for adults and R10 for children under the age of 12.