Chiefs defender puts derby woes behind him
Kaizer Chiefs defender Mario Booysen is treating his Soweto derby mishaps as a lesson learned, as Amakhosi prepare to meet SuperSport United in a Telkom Knockout quarterfinal at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Mario Booysen of Kaizer Chiefs (Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
“In football mistakes happen and in certain games you pay a heavy price for it. We all learn from it,” said Booysen who didn’t have a good game in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Orlando Pirates, making a mistake that led to a goal.
He denied, meanwhile, that there is a lot of heat on Chiefs, who failed to win a trophy for three seasons under Steve Komphela, before Giovanni Solinas took over at the start of the new campaign.
“I don’t think we are under pressure. We still have a lot to play for. It is still early days. For now we focus on what is in front of us and right now that is SuperSport,” he said.
“We have to be positive and we are focusing on that for now. We want to win the trophy and we know what is at stake. We just have to focus on the performance because with the right performances we can stay in the hunt.”
READ: Chiefs must progress in TKO to keep Solinas safe
Chiefs will be looking to make amends for their MTN8 semifinal defeat to SuperSport, with Matsatsantsa winning 3-2 on aggregate.
If he plays on Sunday, Booysen will be coming up against his former side for the first time wearing the Chiefs colours and he said he is not too worried about that.
“It is about sticking to the game plan we have and focusing on our team because you can get carried away and make stupid mistakes,” he said.
“They are a decent team. We know their strengths. We just have to focus on what we have to do in order to advance.”
Chiefs have been criticised for not having a regular central defensive pairing that has a good understanding, but Booysen said they trust everyone who plays in that role to do a good job when given the task.
“With the amount or quality we have at the back anyone can play. We have taken some criticism but it must not hinder our confidence because you can’t become a bad player overnight,” he said.
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