Chiefs coach Middendorp targets league title

Chiefs finished outside the top eight in a dismal 2018/19 campaign and while they have bought in some reinforcements, there is little to indicate that they can mount a challenge. The Amakhosi head coach, however, insists we will see a different Chiefs in the new season.

“The most important thing is to be forward, to not wait for the other team, you go in first into the one-on-ones, whether you are attacking or defending, to be on the front foot.

“You can’t just be pushed away in the first minute, with a lot of crying, this will stop,” said Middendorp at the launch of the Absa Premiership on Monday.

“We have done a lot of bringing players back to 100 percent, not only (Lebo) Manyama, (Leonardo) Castro is a totally different player,” added Middendorp.

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Chiefs open their Premiership campaign at Highlands Park on Sunday and when pressed on what Chiefs’ aim was this season, Middendorp said “very clear, to win the league,” before seemingly indicating that they were unlucky last season to lose so many points.

“We lost to Sundowns but I don’t know how we lost that game, we played Pirates and I don’t know how it finished 1-1.

“We played Cape Town City and it should have been 5-0 at half-time, then in the last second we made an individual mistake,” said Middendorp.

“We have the best goalkeeper in the country (Itumeleng Khune, who was injured for much of last season). If Khune had been in goal it would have been a totally different story. We were giving games away from nowhere.”

Highland Park coach Owen da Gama, meanwhile, also verged on the wildly optimistic in saying his side were looking to win the league, and added that he was happy if Chiefs wanted to have an aggressive game at Makhulong Stadium.

“They must bring it on, that is our game, and if they change their way of playing to try and counter us, I am happy with that,” said Da Gama.

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