OPINION – Extra rest doesn’t seem to be helping Kaizer Chiefs

Kaizer Chiefs have had another extended period to put in hard work on the training field ahead of their next match, but their results in 2024 suggest that too much time without football is not actually benefiting Cavin Johnson’s Amakhosi.

The Chiefs head coach only came into the job at the end of October, and after a positive run of results before the end of the year, it looked like the perfect time for a “mid-season pre-season,” as the Premier Soccer League stopped for the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Johnson would have hoped to get more out of a talented squad of players, with extra time to work with them, but instead Chiefs have gone backwards, winning just one of eight matches in all competitions, and scoring just three goals in the process.

Amakhosi are currently in real danger of not even qualifying for next season’s MTN8, unless they can find a way of stopping the rot, starting with a trip to Richards Bay in the DStv Premiership on Sunday.

Johnson has to get more out a mis-firing attack – Amakhosi have managed just 19 goals in 23 league matches all season.

Chiefs’ last hope of a trophy went when they were embarrassed by struggling Motsepe Foundation Championship side Milford FC in the last-32 of the Nedbank Cup, meaning they will now have gone nine seasons without a single piece of Premier Soccer League silverware.

That Nedbank Cup exit has afforded Amakhosi even more time to work on the training pitch, as the Nedbank Cup last-16 and quarterfinals have gone by without Johnson’s side in action, but so far, it does not seem to be making any difference.

Fleurs tragedy

Chiefs have lost their last two league games to Stellenbosch and Chippa United, though the latter did carry mitigation, following the tragic passing of Amakhosi defender Luke Fleurs, killed in a hijacking in Johannesburg on 3 April.

Amakhosi’s players wanted to honour the fixture against Chippa because they felt it was what Fleurs would have wanted them to do, but on the field they were unable to get the result they wanted.

They will hope now that a combination of playing in Fleurs’ honour and a desire to finish in the top three can catapult them on a run of wins.