Toyota Cup clash more than a friendly for Kaizer Chiefs

PRE-SEASON tournaments may not necessarily be a true indicator of what is going to transpire in the season proper. But they set the tone for what’s to come and give supporters an indication of how ready their team is for the campaign.

It is for that reason that Kaizer Chiefs are taking the weekend’s Toyota Cup clash against Ghana’s Asante Kotoko seriously, Amakhosi speaking of the clash as though it were an FA Cup of sorts.

Smashed 4-0 by Tanzania’s Young Africans last year and then going on to have a league season that might as well be described as an episode in the club’s illustrious story best forgotten, Chiefs mean business this time around.

They have made a handful of new signings they believe will strengthen their squad and make them more competitive and they have described their pre-season in the Netherlands as a success.

Their ordinary followers will not easily buy into that though, not when that tour produced a single victory out of five matches – the rest having been defeats.

Understandable then, that Saturday’s clash with Kotoko is way more than just a friendly pre-season match.

It is a must-win clash for Amakhosi if they are to convince not only their fans but themselves too that the 2025/26 campaign is the season in which they rise back to being one of the country’s top sides.

Their success in winning the Nedbank Cup at the end of last season has raised hopes and helped them get an unwanted monkey off their back - that of having gone ten seasons without winning silverware.

That anomaly out of the way, Chiefs can now play freely and without the added pressure brought about by the desperation to win a trophy.

It is a good environment for the new players to come into, to be part of a team fresh from enjoying a trophy success.

Former Orlando Pirates players Paseka Mako and Thabiso Monyane bring that winning mentality to Naturena while the other newbies coming from outside the country are going to be hard-pressed to impress at the outset.

Striker Flavio Silva in particular needs to hit the ground running after he failed to impress during the matches out in the Netherlands, so much so that some of the Amakhosi faithful wrote him off immediately.

He joins the club with an impressive resume – the Guinea Bissau-born Portuguese having been a prolific scorer in Indonesia where he scored 39 goals in 78 appearances over two seasons.

He has, however, had a journeyman career – Chiefs being the 29-year-old’s 12th club since he turned pro back in 2014. 

Will he stay the course at Naturena and deliver the goals? No doubt they believe that at Chiefs lest they’d not have signed him.

They are an unforgiving lot the Amakhosi faithful and Silva will do well to win them over as early as on Saturday by scoring the goal that sees Chiefs beating Kotoko and keeping the Toyota Cup at home.

Pre-season as the competition might be, it is an important one for Chiefs who have traditionally given their fans something to smile about going into the new campaign with victories in such tournaments.

Remember how dominant they used to be in the defunct Charity Spectacular tournament sponsored by Iwiesa and later Telkom as well as in the Vodacom Challenge?

They actually won the latter years ago and beat Kotoko and the Ghanains have made it clear that they are here to exact revenge for that result long forgotten by most Chiefs fans.