WeeklySA_AdminCHALLENGES: Mourning Kaizer Chiefs to ease their pain at Richards Bay expense
By Sports Reporter
It will be a busy and challenging weekend for Kaizer Chiefs as the club will sadly lay to rest one of their fallen warriors, Luke Fleurs, on Saturday in Cape Town, before the team travels to Durban to face Richards Bay FC in their away fixture on Sunday afternoon.
This encounter was previously scheduled for Saturday but has since been moved to Sunday afternoon by the PSL.
Just like the previous game against Chippa United in East London, it will be another emotionally taxing game for the Kaizer Chiefs players and technical team, after burying one of their own, but they will have to soldier on to battle for three DStv Premiership points.
Coach Cavin Johnson and his troops know the importance of doing well in Sunday’s game, especially to ensure they don’t drop out of the top eight pack, and get into a position where they can move higher on the log. However, the game is as crucial for the opposition, as they fight to avoid the prospect of automatic relegation, or play-offs, at the end of the season.
Amakhosi are currently 8th on the log with 30 points after 23 games. The Natal Rich Boyz occupy the second from bottom spot in the league standings, with 17 points after 23 matches. One of the few positives to come out of Amakhosi’s defeat at Chippa United in their last DStv Premiership outing was the re-emergence of Siyethemba Sithebe in the Chiefs engine room.
Sithebe put in a solid performance in very difficult circumstances on a heavy, sodden pitch drenched by continuous rainfall.
“I am really happy to have got back into the team and be given a chance to make a strong comeback, playing the full 90 minutes. I am proud of myself for that,” he tells www.kaizerchiefs.com, as the team prepares for their trip to Umlazi to play Richards Bay on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kaizer Chiefs have handed teenage sensation, Mfundo Vilakazi, a contract extension that will see him stay at Naturena until June 2028.
Vilakazi arrived at Chiefs’ Youth Development Academy in 2021, initially playing for the under-17 team, before being promoted to the reserve team, where he shone for two seasons.
The naturally gifted 18-year-old started training with the senior squad earlier this season and was included in the team shortly afterwards, much to the delight of many Kaizer Chiefs fans.
He has made the match day squad on six occasions, appearing twice from trom the bench, in the Soweto Derby against Orlando Pirates and then in the Nedbank Cup Round of 32 match.
