Chiefs and AmaZulu renew rivalry
Chiefs and AmaZulu renew rivalry

Posted in News, Team News on Sep 30, 2021.

Kaizer Chiefs will head down to Durban for their 15h30 kick-off against AmaZulu in a DStv Premiership clash on Saturday afternoon with the aim of bringing back three points from their travels. The team will be aiming to keep up the historical dominance of their hosts.

Chiefs and AmaZulu have a long history stretching back to 1971 when Usuthu were known as Zulu Royals – the game on 8 August 1971 produced ten goals with eight goals being scored in the first half. Chiefs would lose the game 6-4 after trailing 5-3 at halftime. The first match between the teams in the league with them known as AmaZulu was during the 1974 season. They had played the first-round game as Zulu Royals on the 2 June 1974 and it ended in a 2-1 away loss.

When the teams clashed in the second league game in 1974, AmaZulu as they were now known, could not hold back legendary Chiefs striker Ace Ntsoelengoe who scored a hat-trick to hand Amakhosi a 3-0 victory at home.

Since the advent of the PSL in 1996-97, Chiefs and AmaZulu have clashed 38 times with Chiefs managing to win 25 of these games – the second most number of league games they have won against any team since 1996-97 only bettered by Chiefs 27 league victories over Free State Stars. Of their remaining PSL era league clashes, a further 9 games have ended in a draw with AmaZulu picking up four wins.

Since 1996-97, Chiefs have travelled to face AmaZulu in 19 league games and have established a good record in these games – they have a record of 13 wins and 6 draws with no losses. Amakhosi have a run of 22 away league games going back to 1992 without losing (W15 D7) to AmaZulu, they will be looking to extend that run on Saturday.

Chiefs’ biggest victory over Usuthu came at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban during the sides’ opening league clash in 2012-13. It was also current Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter’s first league game in charge of the team during his first spell at the helm of Amakhosi. During the 2012-13 to 2014-15 season, Baxter enjoyed a good run against AmaZulu as Chiefs coach, winning 6 out of 6 league games, scoring 18 goals and conceding 2.

Last season Chiefs won the corresponding fixture and have managed to get the better of AmaZulu in their last three away league games against them. A victory for Chiefs in this game will see them win four successive away league games against Usuthu in the PSL era for the first time.

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