Khabo Zondo of Royal AM has made a bold claim regarding Kaizer Chiefs players ahead of the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal clash.
Royal AM reached the last eight of the Nedbank Cup after beating Cape Town City and KZN rivals Golden Arrows.
And with Royal AM only suffering a single defeat in their last five games in all competitions, Zondo, who is part of the club’s technical team, is clearly not short on confidence.
The KZN side will face Chiefs in the quarterfinals on a date and venue set to be confirmed at a later stage.
Riding high on confidence, Zondo has compared Royal AM players to Chiefs’, making a surprising declaration.
The Soweto giants in fourth place on the DStv Premiership are eight points above Royal AM in ninth place after 23 matches.
And the last time the sides met, Chiefs were comfortable winners; claiming three points thanks to goals by Sifiso Hlanti and Ashley Du Preez.
Despite suffering the defeat and being four places behind Chiefs, Zondo has said that the Soweto side doesn’t have enough quality players.
KHABO ZONDO’S BOLD CLAIM ABOUT KAIZER CHIEFS
The high-spending KZN-based side have attracted some household names in the league.
Amongst the big name players, who were signed by Royal AM is Thabo Matlaba, Ricardo Nascimento, Happy Jele, Ruzaigh Gamaldine and Mthokozisi Dube.
On the other hand, Chiefs have been heavily criticised by their supporters for not signing enough quality players in recent years.
“In open play, I think we can compete with Kaizer Chiefs,” Zondo told FARPost.
“I believe that player for player, we have far better players than Chiefs in terms of technical ability.
“Our players are highly gifted, if you look at the likes of Mfundo Thikazi, [Levy] Mashiane. And you look at Sedwyn George right now, also there’s Kabelo Mahlasela and Thabo Matlaba.
“I mean, these players are beginning to show their true colours, which I’m happy with.
“So this match [Nedbank Cup against Chiefs] that we going to play is going to be a little bit tough for Chiefs. That match is winnable,” he added.
It is worth noting that, Amakhosi have no player in the Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana that is set to play back-to-back AFCON qualifiers against Liberia later in March.
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