Khama Billiat finally opened his scoring account in the colours of black and gold when he hammered the last nail in the coffin of Free State Stars and enabled Kaizer Chiefs to march 3–0 to the semis of the MTN8 ‘Wafa Wafa’ Cup.
His last-minute gasp goal of a three-goal thriller came at the stroke of the referee’s added-on time of 13 minutes at the end of the ninety to compensate for the time taken securing the broken leg of Joseph Molongoane in a fierce tackle for the ball with his Stars counterpart and he had to be rushed to the hospital.
Read: Chiefs and Sundowns in mind games ahead of their titanic clash in Helix Cup
Billiat’s celebration, though not wild and fancy, told the whole story – long coming and nothing but relief on his side finally, as he performed his usual ‘Cristian Ronaldo’ copycat, a tradition he had become known for at Sundowns. He kept pointing his fingers up and saying a little prayer as he returned to the pitch from the celebration.
Played at an empty and freezing FNB Stadium, Chiefs opened their scoring account via the boot of Dumsani Zuma in the 20th minute of this quarterfinal game in which Amakhosi dominated from the first whistle up to the last, though Stars had opportunities here and there, especially in second half.
The Soweto Glamour Boys launched wave after wave after wave of attack in search of a cushion goal that never came and the two teams settled for the break with Chiefs leading 1–0. When they resumed the second stanza, Chiefs took off from where they had left and continued to put the pressure on a hapless Stars.
This pressure paid off as the deadly Colombian marksman Leonardo Castro rattled the net in the 47th minute from a maze of Stars defenders to increase the Amakhosi lead to 2–0. Shortly after this goal, the game had to be stopped for a considerable amount of time while paramedics secured Molongoane’s broken leg before rushing him to hospital.
When the game finally resumed, one could hardly tell that Chiefs had just lost one of their stars as they continued to pile on the pressure, this included Molongoane’s replacement, Bernard Parker, who fitted into the bigger scheme of things like a hand in glove.
Stars brought in substitute Judas Moseamedi who immediately made an immense impact on the striking options of the Qwa Qwa side and almost managed a goal from a header of his first touch of the ball and missed the second one before he was himself quickly substituted because of a suspected pulled muscle.
Before the end of the game, hard-working and Man of the Match Siphelele Ntshangase had to be rushed to the hospital with an unspecified injury and his media officer Vina Maphosa received the trophy on his behalf.
Read: Kaizer Chiefs coach, Steve Komphela finally throws in the towel
When the ninety finally arrived, the referee added a whopping 13 minutes which saw Billiat making many brilliant moves and strikes at goals in search of his first goal in Chiefs colours, and it finally came at the dead end. Just as he rattled the net, the referee blew both for the goal and for the end of the game, making Chiefs the second team to reach the semis after Mamelodi Sundowns.
The draw for the two-legged semi-final saw Chiefs away against SuperSport United while Sundowns will also travel to the Mother City to meet their nemesis Cape Town City. These games will be played on the weekend of 25 August, with the return legs scheduled for the weekend of 1 September.
Other results of the MTN8:
- Sundowns 2 versus Golden Arrows 0
- Chiefs 3 versus Free State Stars 0
- Orlando Pirates 2 (3) versus SuperSport United 2 (4 penalties)
- Maritzburg United 0 versus Cape Town City 1.
