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Chiefs youngsters look to confirm progress with Diski Shield title
Chiefs beat SuperSport and Sundowns on the road to the final.
Kaizer Chiefs reserves midfielder Mduduzi Shabalala will be a key player for the young Amakhosi in the Diski Shield final against Stellenbosch. Picture: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Kaizer Chiefs reserve team coach Vela Khumalo has so much confidence in his youngsters that he believes they will be dominating South African football in the coming years.
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Chiefs are currently preparing for their DStv Diski Shield final against Stellenbosch FC at Mpumalanga Stadium in Hammarsdale on Saturday.
The Chiefs reserve team has made a lot of people talk with an exciting brand of football they have been ,playing which has seen them reach the final.
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Amakhosi have been really impressive at the tournament, where they first defeated SuperSport United reserves 4-2 in the quarterfinals, before knocking out Mamelodi Sundowns reserves 2-0 in the semifinals.
With all the talk from fans and a promising future for the youngsters, Khumalo says the work being put in the reserve team is not something new in the Glamour Boys development structures.
Luckily for him, most of the boys in the Chiefs team were part of his South Africa national Under-17 team that won the Under-17 Cosafa Cup in 2020, most notably Mduduzi Shabalala, who walked away with the Player of the Tournament award in that edition.
“There is a lot of work that takes place in the development structures at Chiefs because we want to make sure that these boys become the best that they can. And one thing that everyone has to know is that these are the very same boys that won the Cosafa Cup (Under-17), well, most of them were in that Amajimbos team I was coaching,” said Khumalo.
“So, it is a process, when I started with them they were 15-years old and now they are 18-years old. We are nurturing them and making them the stars of the future. They are getting better every day. They have done well in the Diski Shield, we just have to finish the job in the final.”
The Chiefs youngsters will be up against an exciting Stellenbosch reserves team that won last season’s DStv Diski Challenge. The Cape side will go into the final with the hopes of lifting their second trophy this season, while Chiefs will be aiming for their second Diski Shield, having won the tournament back in 2018.
Meanwhile, playing for third/fourth place play-off will be Downs reserves, who will be up against Chippa United on the same day.
