KAIZER CHIEFS
*9 Brilliant Khuzwayo
Khuzwayo starts his first match of the season and produces a man of the match performance with brilliant saves that kept Kaizer Chiefs in the game. In the 37thminute Khuzwayo makes a great save from Ntsikelelo Nyauza’s header. Eight minutes into the second half he reacts well to save Mpho Makola’s free-kick and a few minutes later he stops a well-taken strike is well saved by Erasmus. Midway through the second half, Issa Sarr’s brilliant pass finds Thamsaqa Gabuza and Khuzwayo makes the save of the match in a one-on-one situation. In the 90th minute Khuzwayo makes another match winning save from Menzi Masuku.
7 Siboniso Gaxa
As early as the first minute, Gaxa is under pressure from Thabo Matlaba and Mpho Makola and unlike last week, he deals well with the pressure, aided by Siphiwe Tshabalala. Right through the match Gaxa looks solid and copes well with Pirates’ attacks. He is not as effective going forward however, and in the second half he shots wide with his weaker left foot when in a good position to score.
6 Ivan Bukenya
Bukenya has a fairly good performance in defence but is forced off at half-time due to injury. Inside ten minutes his long ball pass finds Lebese but the midfielder’s shot is saved by Siyabonga Mpontshane. But he blots his copy-book by wasting two very good chances to score from Tshabalala’s free-kicks, each time escaping his marker, only to miss badly.
6 Erick Mathoho
A very solid performance by Mathoho. He is still troubled by the trickery of Erasmus, but unlike in the previous match, he is for the most part cool, calm and collected. The one time he looks beaten by Erasmus, ‘Tower’ commits a foul and takes a booking. He deals well more comfortably with Gabuza and forces the striker to move wide. In attack, Tower’s presence is always a threat.
7 Tsepo Masilela
A good performance by Tsepo Masilela who reads the game well, tackles firmly and distributes cleanly. A big moment comes early in extra time when he recovers superbly to take the ball off Rakhale’s feet to deny Pirates what migh have been the winning goal.
6 George Lebese
In and out of the game producing flashes of brilliance few and far between. His best moment comes early on, in the seventh minute when he makes a clever run to beat Pirates’ offside trap from Bukenya’s pass, but his shot is well saved by Mpontshane and go for a corner.
7 Lucky Baloyi
Not a flashy performance but steady and clever as he closes Pirates’ passing lines to hinder their build-ups in midfield. Makes a couple of excellent forward passes to Abraw but does not get forward enough himself.
6 Willard Katsande
Katsande starts the match with a clumsy challenge on Thamsanqa Gabuza which is given as a foul. With Chiefs playing a compact-five-man midfield, Katsande drops deep to protect his two center backs, but at times he seemed to actually confuse Matoho and young Gordinho.
6 Hendrick Ekstein
At times his play is completely pointless – if you’re going to be compared with Maradona, you’d better learn that dancing on the ball is no good if the pass that follows does not find a teammate. Of his first six passes – three went backwards and two sideways. Midway through the second half, Ekstein’s sideways trickery nearly proved costly when Pirates disposessed him and Sarr’s pass found Gabuza who looked sure to score before Khuzwayo came to the rescue. The one positive from ‘Pule’ is that he kept trying and showed amazing energy throughout the two hours of action. For that he gets a six.
8 Siphiwe Tshabalala
Shabba was Chiefs’ best outfield player on the field and his set- pieces always looked dangerous – two of them found Bukenya inside the Pirates box and on both occasions, the big Ugandan failed to convert. Shabba often drifted wide and tried his best to bring Abraw into the match. Worked tirelessy, even in extra-time, and gave a real captain’s performance.
5 Camaldine Abraw
Playing as a solo striker, Abraw is isolated upfront and fails to combine with midfielders. Too often, the Chiefs midfield played pointless passes in midfield and took too long to hit Abraw, the outcome being he was either picked up, or running offsoide when the pass came. Unfortunately for the striker, the times he did get a taste of the ball, he always took the wrong option.
7 Lorenzo Gordinho
Young Gordinho came for Bukenya at half-time to partner Mathoho and did not disappoint. His first touch was a slide tackle away from Gabuza and from there the defender’s confidence grew. He combines a no-nonsense attitude with a calm head.
5 Siphelele Mthembu
Mthembu replaced Abraw and got a great chance to seal the win for Chiefs. Instead of sidefooting the ball into the back of the net, he blasted the ball wide.
Reneilwe Letsholonyane
Replaced Lebese on 112 minutes to add experience to the final minutes.
ORLANDO PIRATES
Mpontshane’s good saves keep Pirates into the game but his defensive organisation is weak, and this lets him down as Kaizer Chiefs come close to scoring at set-pieces. The goalkeeper deals well with crosses, however and Pirates’ management must wish they had him registered in time for CAF matches.
7 Thabo Matlaba
Matlaba continued from where he left off last week attacking the left flank and trying to put pressure on Gaxa. The Chiefs defender handled the situation better this time, and Matlaba’s influence waned as the match wore on. Although he strayed out of posiiton, as usual, the stand-in captain dealt comfortably with most attacks down his flank. His best moment came in the first half when his brilliant footwork nearly saw him through on the left, but he ran out of pitch.
*8 Siyabonga Sangweni
A well-rounded defensively solid performance by Sangweni, who read Chiefs’ long balls well. Early in the second half, he played a great long ball himself, into the path of Gabuza but the striker’s first touch let him down. The big veteran dealt with Abraw and forced the striker to drift wide and move out of dangerous areas. So unfortunate that he was the one to fail from the spot in the post-match kicks, whacking the ball against the bar.
7 Ayanda Gcaba
With Sangweni picking up Abraw, Gcaba played the ‘sweeper’ role very well and Kaizer Chiefs forward players failed to dismantle the Bucs defence. Hard-working and wholehearted, Gcaba’s ability to push up when Pirates had the ball also allowed Issa Sarr to play a more advanced midfield role.
6 Ntsikelelo Nyauza
Nyauza moved forward well and exploited the space in front of him when he had the chance. The right-back almost scored but his header was denied by Khuzwayo. Defensively he was found wanting because of his tendency to ball-watch. Chiefs exploited this by doubling up on his flank and hitting balls into space behind him.
5 Mpho Makola
A very disappointing performance by the Pirates midfielder who looked jaded and drifted in and out of the game. in the second half Makola got a half chance to score on a counter-attack but ballooned his shot over the bar. Replaced by Menzi Masuku.
7 Thandani Ntshumayelo
The midfielder is no Oupa Manyisa, but he works very hard and shows discipline and commitment alongside Sarr, as well as energy as he drops back to collect the ball and get Pirates playing.
7 Issa Sarr
Sarr looked outstanding for much of the game and in the second half he broke down the Chiefs defence to find Gabuza, who should have scored. Early on he let Bukenya escape him, but the defender failed to score. His great value to Pirates is the way he closes off options for opposing midfielders to exploit.
6 Thabo Rakhale
Rakhale had a disappointing match but he never stopped trying. He pushed wide, then moved inside trying his best to get behind the Chiefs defence and at times he devised some neat link-ups with Ntshumayelo and Erasmus. Faded as the match wore on.
6 Thamsanqa Gabuza
Gabuza showed aggression and looked industrious earlier on trying to put the Chiefs defence under pressure. But Pirates link up play in midfield was not effective and not was created for Gabuza to feed off. Missed the chance of the match early in second half when Sarr’s pass found him but Khuzwayo blocked his progress.
7 Kermit Erasmus
Erasmus was well marked and with Chiefs dominating ball possession in the first half he saw little of the ball. In the 29th minute he got his first chance of the match but unfortunately his late pass found Gabuza in an offside position. In the second half Erasmus produced some moment of sheer brilliance and he never stopped chasing down the ball, always keeping the pressure on Matoho and his defenders.
6 Menzi Masuku
Masuka came on for Makola and could have won the match for Pirates in the 90thminute when he combined well Erasmus before dribbling past Masilela to go one on one with Khuzwayo. But the youngster got the ball stuck under his feet for just a moment, and that was enough for Khuzwayo to be in place to save his snapshot.
5 Lehlohonolo Majoro
Majoro replaced Gabuza in the 76th minute but had very little time on the ball as the game drifted on.
Gift Motupa
Replaced Kermit Erasmus in the 102nd minute.