Chippa United coach Sinethemba Badela has provided an update on striker Justice Figuareido, who has been training with the team but has yet to be officially announced or featured in a match.
The Eswatini international has been with the Chilli Boys since the pre-season days after departing Richards Bay FC at the end of the previous campaign.
Figuareido is said to have been requested by Badela to join, with the two having previously worked together at the now-defunct Cape Town All Stars in the second-tier league. However, the player has not made an announcement.
Badela says, as far as he knows, the player is still awaiting his work permit before he is “available for selection”.
BADELA PROVIDES UPDATE ON FIGUAREIDO’S SITUATION
“I think that one the club will have to answer. As far as I know, we’re waiting for his work permit,” said Badela.
“Once his work permit is sorted, he should be able to be available for selection. That is what I know where it comes to Figuareido.”
Chippa suffered their first defeat of the season on Wednesday, losing 1-0 at the hands of Durban City FC in the Betway Premiership at Chatsworth Stadium.
Giving his verdict on the match, Badela said, “We knew it was going to be a difficult game against a strong team and I warned my players that this Durban City team is not an easy team to play against,” stated Badela.
“We watched a few of their games. They are a hard-running team, they load your box and are physical. And we couldn’t match the physicality.
“And they created better chances than us. I don’t think we deserved anything in this game. But I won’t blame the players; I take this loss on me. Maybe I could have done better with the team I chose.
“We came from the difficult game [against Mamelodi Sundowns last weekend] and you could see the last 15, 20 minutes. We started to run out of legs, and they pinned us in our half; we couldn’t get out.
“The solution we chose was to go long, which is not always a [good] solution because the quicker the ball goes forward, the quicker it comes back. And they eventually got into our box too many times in our box, and they got just one chance in the second half, and they punished us.”
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