Inacio Miguel (far right) gestures to his arm after scoring with a header for Kaizer Chiefs against AmaZulu on Wednesday night. Photo: BackpagePix
Smiso Msomi at Moses Mabhida Stadium
DURBAN – Kaizer Chiefs blew away AmaZulu with a spectacular first-half performance to beat them 3-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday night.
Amakhosi recorded a second successive win in the new season after beating Marumo Gallants in their opener.
The 2024/25 Premiership season has provided much needed excitement for the Glamour Boys and that carried into this fixture as the Durban faithful attended a sold-out encounter between the two teams.
The thousands of fans would not be made to wait for long to get on their feet as Ranga Chivaviro scored the first goal 12 minutes into the match.
Chivaviro capitalised off some fine build-up work by the Chiefs attackers and after having his initial shot blocked by goalkeeper Olwethu Mzimela, he reacted first to blast his effort home again.
One quickly turned into two for the visitors as off-season arrival and crowd favourite Gaston Sirino also scored his first for the club in the 14th minute.
90 + 4’| #AMA 1 : 3 #CHI
— Kaizer Chiefs (@KaizerChiefs) September 25, 2024
Full time score: (Ighodaro 47’) AmaZulu FC 1 : 3 Kaizer Chiefs (Chivaviro 12’, Sirino 14’, Miguel 23’)
Betway Man of the Match: Inácio Miguel#Amakhosi4Life #AlwaysHome #BetwayPrem pic.twitter.com/LhMXxLKT2q
The South American showed why Chiefs enlisted his services as he weaved his way to the edge of the box before curling his shot into the top corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance.
It was a nightmare first start of the season for the young Mzimela, who replaced Veli Mothwa for this match in the Usuthu goals.
With 23 minutes gone, the ball had hit the net three times as Chiefs centre-back Inacio Miguel also got in on the act via a header from a corner.
Having met Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi in the past, it would’ve been assumed Pablo Franco Martin on the Usuthu bench would have had answers as his team sank deeper into trouble as the minutes went on.
The home side made the necessary adjustments without making any substitutions, and were immediately rewarded when they pulled one back through Etiosa Ighodaro in the 48th minute.
The Mamelodi Sundowns loanee pounced off a lapse in concentration by the Chiefs defence and placed his goal in the bottom left corner of Fiacre Ntwari’s net.
AmaZulu could have probably snatched a point from this encounter if not for a wasteful second half that saw them miss a number of chances with Chiefs on the ropes.
Next on Chiefs’ agenda is a tough test against defending champions Sundowns on Saturday, while Usuthu visit strugglers Marumo Gallants on the same day.