Even as Chippa United face an increasingly uncertain future in the Betway Premiership, head coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi remains steadfast in his belief that the team will avoid relegation this soccer season.
The Chilli Boys endured their eighth defeat of the season under the bright lights of the Orlando Stadium on Tuesday night, falling 2-0 to Orlando Pirates.
Second-half goals from Evidence Makgopa and Oswin Appollis sucked the Gqeberha-based side deeper into the relegation zone as they lie bottom on the table, with only seven points from 13 matches.
Vilakazi, or Kanu, as he is popularly known in the soccer fraternity, is the fifth coach to take the hot seat at the club since the start of the season.
The 43-year-old replaced Luc Eymael, who is so far the only coach to have managed a win this season.
Vilakazi acknowledged the challenge of leading struggling teams but is adamant that Chippa United will avoid relegation.
“I know that it’s unfortunate that I always come to the teams that are fighting relegation, and I am expected to do miracles, but I still maintain what I said when I came to Chippa, that Chippa will never go down,” the coach said.
“They will never be relegated.”
He attributes his confidence to what he referred to as the players’ potential.
“We needed to align a few areas in terms of their psychological part in terms of believing in themselves,” Vilakazi said.
“We have good young stars; we have Asanele Bonani, who played today and nearly scored a goal.
“He never played in the PSL before; he was playing for the Diski team and he is the leading goal scorer.
“So, once you give them the confidence and the belief in themselves, I think they will do wonders.
“With such commitment and hard work, I strongly believe we will do wonders, and we will save this team.”
Reflecting on their disappointing setback to Pirates, the coach believes there are many positives to take from the match.
He said they went to the Orlando Stadium with one plan in mind, and that was to beat the in-form Buccaneers, but unfortunately things did not go their way.
“Obviously, when it comes to the results, it’s not the result that one was looking for.
“We came with a plan. We wanted to be victorious on the day, but it was just not meant to be.
“However, I think there were a lot of positives that we can take out of this game.
“There is improvement in our games, but improvement within the competition is where the problem is.
“We can just take the positives out of this one and move on.”
Chippa next play Siwelele away on Saturday before returning to close their programme off for the year against Kaizer Chiefs at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday (7.30pm).
The Herald
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