Unfazed by rocky start: Khune exudes confidence in Chiefs’ title aspirations
While Kaizer Chiefs have had a rocky start to the 2023/24 PSL campaign, Itumeleng Khune remains optimistic that the Soweto giants can still challenge for the DStv Premiership title.
Chiefs suffered a 1-0 defeat against arch-rivals Orlando Pirates on Saturday at FNB Stadium in the league encounter.
The Naturena-based side has already missed out on two domestic trophies after being knocked out of MTN8 and Carling Knockout Cup.
Chiefs were eliminated from the MTN8 earlier in the season by Mamelodi Sundowns before crashing out of the Carling Knockout Cup last 16 at the hands of AmaZulu FC.
In the league, Amakhosi have endured a below-par start with four wins, two draws, and six defeats in six in 12 matches. They are sitting 10th on the log with 14 points. Chiefs are 10 points behind log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who are on 24 points after winning all their opening eight games.
The poor start to the season by Chiefs saw the club hierarchy sack Molefi Ntseki after barely four months on the hot seat. Cavin Johnson has since taken over the coaching reigns on an interim basis.
With Chiefs seemingly losing pace in the DStv Premiership title race, Khune has insisted that his side is still in the league contention.
KHUNE AIMING TO WIN ALL REMAINING LEAGUE GAMES WITH CHIEFS
“I think we are in this league to compete until the last whistle and now we’ve already played 12 games, so we still have a long way to go,” Khune said.
“We vowed and made promises to our bosses that we can win all our remaining matches and people look at it as something that’s impossible to do. But there was a time when we started the league and after 20 games, we were unbeaten and what can stop us from winning all our remaining games?
“If we get the worst results, it should be a draw and we’ll get more points, challenge for the league, or challenge for being second or third.”
Khune further revealed the club’s ambitions to qualify for CAF interclub competitions.
For the Glamour Boys to qualify for the CAF Champions League, they need to finish second on the log. They can also qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup by either finishing third on the log or winning the Nedbank Cup.
“We still stand a chance to qualify for CAF Confederation Cup and [CAF] Champions League, so we can’t take ourselves out of the race. It’s still early, Kaizer Chiefs is a big club and we keep reminding ourselves that we’re a big club,” he added.
“The fact that we haven’t won silverware in the past eight seasons, it doesn’t take away that we are still a big club. We will keep fighting and we’ll definitely change things.”
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