While the scoreline – a 3-0 defeat to Orlando Pirates in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-finals – paints a gloomy picture, there is perhaps a little bit of hope for Kaizer Chiefs if one looks at some of the stats.
It may be grasping at straws a little bit to say this, but looking objectively at the Soweto derby on Saturday afternoon at the Orlando Stadium, Amakhosi were by no means played off the park.
However, while the Glamour Boys floundered in front of the Pirates goal, everything Bucs did in and around the Chiefs box seemingly turned to goals.
Indeed it was the perfect day for Pirates, tempered however by the news after the game that head coach Josef Zinnbauer has had to rush home to Germany to be with his sick son.
From Chiefs’ perspective, they certainly had their chances, and with a little luck and lot more composure from the likes of Khama Billiat and Leoanrdo Castro, could even have been 2-0 up within the opening 20 minutes.
And according to the SuperSport post-match studio panel, Amakhosi actually had more ball possession than Pirates.
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However, not only that, they also shared half of the 22 efforts on goal by the two sides over the 90 minutes in Soweto. However, while Bucs has seven shots on target and scored three, Chiefs only had four of 11 on target and failed to beat Richard Ofori in the Pirates goal.
Overall though there certainly wasn’t a gulf in class between the sides, and as TV analyst and former Chiefs midfielder Siyabonga Nkosi pointed out, it was more a case of everything going right for Pirates on the day.
“The difference today was the efficiency in the Pirates application,” Nkosi said in the SuperSport TV studio. “Chiefs got two great opportunities where they should have been efficient and gone two goals up. I think it was three out of four clear-cut opportunities, [Pirates] took them, I think that was the main difference.
"[Pirates’] defending also improved gradually and they created more confidence and made it even more frustrating for Kaizer Chiefs.
“Pirates stayed compact and allowed Chiefs to come at them,” Nkosi underlined. “Chiefs were a bit reckless on the ball [which allowed Pirates] to spring attacks.
“Whenever Pirates were able to nick the ball they were then able to get behind them and Chiefs were not able to deal with the pace that they have, the likes of [Thembinkosi] Lorch and [Vincent] Pule and [Zakhele] Lepasa as well.”
Fellow analyst, Jimmy Tau, who played as a defender for both of the Soweto giants, also gave some interesting insight as to where Amakhosi may be going wrong and why their defence is getting exposed too often.
“When Chiefs are in possession, they lose their defensive structure, because they want to be part of the play,” Tau explained. “That is when they started to have gaps and when Pirates punished them.”
