Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi will have to shuffle his squad around due to the absence of new arrival Thabo Cele when they come face to face with Magesi FC at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday night.
Cele, who has surely stolen the hearts of the hard-to-impress Amakhosi supporters, picked up his fourth yellow card of the season on Saturday when they lost 1-0 to log-leaders Mamelodi Sundowns in Atteridgeville.
The 28-year-old KwaMashu-born midfielder has established himself as a vital cog in the misfiring Chiefs engine room with his commanding performances in the six matches he has played since joining the club in January.
Amakhosi have suffered two straight defeats in the Betway Premiership, and they need to bounce back with an energetic display against the unpredictable Magesi, who are coached by the wily Owen da Gama.
Chiefs are fresh from a tough, sold-out match against the Brazilians in Atteridgeville, while Magesi faced another Pretoria-based side, SuperSport United on same day. After bagging three points on Saturday, Magesi have now collected 17 points in 20 matches. They lie 15th on the log. Chiefs in position eight, on 25 points from 19 games.
Tonight’s match will be the two clubs’ second meeting of the season in the Betway Premiership. In the first leg round played at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, Amakhosi escaped with a 2-2 draw with a late equaliser.
So, Chiefs defender Reeve Frosler says that they have to forget about their heartbreaking loss to Sundowns and focus on the game against the PSL newcomers: “The game on the weekend against Sundowns was a difficult loss to take. I don’t think we played badly. We did well, we stuck to what we wanted to do on the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t capitalise on the chances that we created, and they scored,” said Frosler.
“Next, we have Magesi – it is an interesting game and a chance for us to get back up. We have got to switch our focus now to tonight’s game, go back to the drawing board and see what we can do and how we can beat Magesi,” he added.
Chiefs also announced that they will be utilising their new ticketing system. This is after fraudsters forged for the Soweto derby, and that resulted in a chaos at the FNB Stadium. So, tickets for the Magesi match are available from the new ticketing system, Open Tickets. The new system enables supporters to purchase their tickets from the Kaizer Chiefs website, the SMSA website, and the Open Tickets website, as well as an additional WhatsApp option.
