Kaizer Chiefs legend Marks Maponyane fell very short of saying, “Amakhosi lack balls of steel”, and instead put it in a more respectable way when he aired his annoyance at the Amakhosi skipper and vice-captain.
Chiefs captain Zitha Kwinika and his second in command, Inacio Miguel, both shied away from taking penalties in the Carling Knockout against Stellenbosch this past weekend.
Amakhosi and Stellies could not be separated in extra-time, and the daunting lottery of penalties were the decider. Steve Barker’s men won the shoot-out 5-4, as Chiefs surrendered the early advantage after goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari saved Stellenbosch’s opening kick by Andre De Jong.
Gaston Sirino, Thabo Cele, Aden McCarthy, Bradley Cross, Tashreeq Morris and Dillan Solomons were the trusted kickers for Chiefs. However, Maponyane is of the view that Miguel and Kwinika should have taken the responsibility as the two most senior players in the club.
“You must have a team that has a leader who leads by example, and I don’t see that happening.
“If you look at Miguel, you think that the guy is not really in charge, and then you look to see who can be in charge, but I don’t see anyone who can be in charge because they have not shown leadership at all,” Maponyane said on Radio 2000.
“You need that leadership quality on the pitch, and you don’t always need it on the bench. Sometimes you find that you have to make changes as a captain, and then you’ll explain those changes to the coach later, and you don’t wait until the coach says, ‘Can’t you see that we are suffering here and there?’.
“So, that leadership is not there, and I just wonder what goes through their minds when they play the same way all the time and just rush things, and nothing works.
“I don’t understand when Glody Lilepo goes 200 km per hour and goes out of the pitch. I ask myself if the ground is too small or if the guy is too fast, and all those things are confusing sometimes.”