Posted in News, Youth Academy on Mar 30, 2019.
Chiefs Reserves delivered over the five games of the cup competition played last season to win the inaugural tournament. They contested a group that consisted of Platinum Stars, Bidvest Wits and Orlando Pirates.
That successful campaign saw Amakhosi score 15 goals, including three in the come from behind victory over Mamelodi Sundowns in the final. The team appeared to get better with every game as they finished that campaign with a 100% win record.
The difference this season is that Highlands Park have replaced the relegated-cum-defunct Platinum Stars.
The positives to consider when weighing up Chiefs’ chances of defending their title is that they have exciting players such as Sabelo Radebe and Sizwe Twala, who finished as top-scorer in the league-format MultiChoice Diski Challenge (MDC).
Amakhosi finished in the MDC above all three of their Central Region opponents in the MultiChoice Diski Shield. Should the team pick-up where they left off in the MDC, in terms of producing scintillating displays, they will be considered serious title contenders.
There will be a few challenges in that, as champions, they will have a target on their back compounded by the fact that the team has lost a number of the players who competed in last season’s Diski Shield.
Those losses are the gain of the Chiefs first team, who now have Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya, Happy Mashiane, Brylon Petersen, Nkosingiphile Ngcobo, Siyabonga Ngezana and Njabulo Blom in their dressing room.
Arthur Zwane, at the helm of the reserves, appears to have a knack at getting his players well-prepared for the jump to first team football.
The coach will, however, be looking to defend the Diski Shield title and if recent performances are anything to go by, the first team will likely see another new face before long.
Kick-off at the Thohoyandou Stadium is scheduled for 12:00 on Sunday, 31 March.