Kaizer Chiefs’ exciting young midfielder Mduduzi Shabalala has spoken about the club’s incessant struggles, revealing why he feels ‘sorry’ for budding players at the Naturena.
Shabalala is well aware that Chiefs have become a punching bag in South African football as a trophy drought stretching nearly a decade hangs heavy over the club.
The Soweto giants are currently a symbol of underachievement, having last lifted a trophy back in the 2014/15 season.
Since their league triumph nine years ago, Amakhosi have seen a revolving door of coaches, each failing to recapture past glory. The club’s fans, long accustomed to success, have grown increasingly frustrated, with their displeasure occasionally boiling over into violence at stadiums.
Chiefs are going to finish the current season empty-handed as they have already missed out on the Carling Knockout Cup, MTN8 and Nedbank Cup. In the DStv Premiership, the Glamour Boys are clinging to a top-three finish, their only hope for continental football through the CAF Champions League or Confederation Cup.
The club’s rising star, Shabalala, has admitted that the negativity and underwhelming performances engulfing Chiefs are a source of pain, especially for the club’s young players.
WHY DOES MDUDUZI SHABALALA FEEL SORRY FOR YOUNG CHIEFS PLAYERS?
“As young players at Chiefs, I feel sorry for us because it is not easy; it’s tough,” said Shabalala at the Kaizer Chiefs Village in Naturena on Thursday morning as he believes youngsters are unfairly criticised.
“Every one bad game, we are bad players.”
Meanwhile, fellow youngster Mfundo Vilakazi recently secured a long-term contract extension at Chiefs, keeping him at the club until June 2028.
Shabalala shares a strong connection with Vilakazi, having lifted the Diski Shield trophy together for the Amakhosi youth team and forged a connection through their shared experiences in Kasi football tournaments.
“I started playing with Mfundo at kasi [township]; we were playing in the Siphiwe Tshabalala Foundation Tournament; that’s where I saw Mfundo play; we met there and connected, and our relationship started there,” said Shabalala.
“I always talk to him [Vilakazi] and tell him that ‘it may not be now, but one day, it [success at Chiefs] is going to happen, just keep on growing, keep on grinding because he is a good player’.
“We know that we are good players; it is just that we are not fortunate enough, and things are not going our way, but one day, people will be talking a different story about us.”
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