Did a gift carry Kaizer Chiefs? Amakhosi co-coach Cedric Kaze fires back at Golden Arrows tactician Mngqithi over offside goal claim

Kaizer Chiefs hosted Golden Arrows in their first assignment of 2026 following the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) break.

The Glamour Boys were hoping to complete a double over Manqoba Mngqithi's men in the Premier Soccer League, having defeated them by a solitary goal in the initial meeting.

As fate may have it, Aden McCarthy managed to scramble the ball over the line to give his team a 1-0 win, their first victory in five games across all competitions.

The result put the Soweto giants third on the table with 27 points, two behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns and just one less than traditional rivals Orlando Pirates, who have played 12 games as opposed to the aforementioned duo, who have featured 14 times.

The 54-year-old former Mamelodi Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi was furious with the officials.

He insisted McCarthy was in an offside position and the goal shouldn't have stood by any means.

“The first thing I can tell you is that the PSL will forever have issues for as long as this issue of VAR is not taken care of. The stakes are very high; we work very hard to build our teams, and if you want to see that this goal was an offside, just wait for the touch that goes to Silva, and already Aiden McCarthy is on the other side; he is offside,” Mngqithi said in his post-match interview.
“And we lose the game; nobody cares. We concede goals; people are saying you concede goals because you don’t defend well, but the reality is the league must work very hard on working on this thing. The game has become too dynamic; the game has become too dynamic. 

“It’s not us; it’s the game that should tell us. It's too difficult even for the officials to follow and track the runs of these players because I cannot always blame the officials," he added.

“The game itself has become too dynamic, and it demands we respond to that. We’re not playing for R500 000 here; we’re playing for R20 million.

"So we should be considering looking into this thing of VAR; otherwise, we will keep losing matches like this, and people will be ok with it," Mngqithi concluded.

In his response to Mngqithi, Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze conceded the Premier Soccer League needs the VAR to help the officials in making objective decisions.

"Obviously, obviously, I believe the VAR will make the league better. It's something that helps the referees," he said in a presser.

"I am with my colleague. I can't wait to have VAR," Kaze added.

Meanwhile,  the Burundian tactician is confident they will deliver and that those who have been against them will be forced to eat humble pie.

"I don't feel that I'm not trusted, but I feel that I'm very supported within the team, by the management and the players," he told the media. 

"Sometimes I feel like it is the outside people who are trying to create things, and there is a lack of respect when people talk about those two co-coaches - they don't even know the names.

"We know what we are doing, we are qualified. I'm giving you until the end of the season, we will meet, and I'm pretty sure everyone will apologise," Kaze concluded.