Komphela rues missed chances and refs decisions

The Brazilians made good on their chances on goal while the Chiefs failed to do the same.

Not only did Komphela’s players fail to capitalise on a number of shots on goal, they botched two penalties in the match – which would have drawn the teams level.

The Amakhosi boss admitted his players weren’t good enough on the night.

“I strongly believe on the night, Kaizer Chiefs gave it away. With the score 3-1, we should have scored the penalties to make it 3-all. Then check the one-on-ones we had, Tshabalala had one, Parker had one, Lebese had one, that’s another three. Effectively we would have gone 6-3,” Komphela said.

“Yes - we didn’t defend well, the first goal we didn’t defend the diagonal ball. The second one we didn’t defend the set-piece well and the third one we didn’t defend our box. Give them the three goals, they deserved them. But what did we do with our chances? The difference between the two teams was the team that was prepared to take their chances and we didn’t take ours – we go back home losers. It’s a pity this is the second final loss in three months, it’s not nice, it’s painful and we’ll have to regroup before our next match on Saturday,” the Chiefs boss said.

Komphela also felt aggrieved with officiating on the night – quite clearly stating that the referees weren’t tough enough on foul play. The Chiefs coach thought Sundowns striker Leonardo Castro should have been sent off for repeated infringements.

“Maybe the question would be why was Leonardo Castro was substituted – nobody knows. But my suspicions are the technical team definitely knew he was not supposed to be on the field. He was supposed to have been sent off for a second bookable offence for kicking the ball away,” Komphela said.

“When you speak to the officials they don’t want to give you feedback. Maybe a recommendation is that when you come to matches of this nature, you need strong referees otherwise it makes us look like idiots on the sides when we keep on protesting and protesting – it’s not nice. That is one of the questions I thought should be dealt with – it’s not a complaint but I strongly believe that should have been dealt with in a better way, Castro should have been sent off in the first half. That’s why when they came back, they had made the change and they introduced Teko Modise,” Komphela added.

Nevertheless Amakhosi were their own worst enemy as they failed to follow their own advice when looking to score.

“As we wrapped up, one of our members made a submission. He said their goalkeeper is strong going to his left but we still went to his left. We never adhered to that advice, both penalties went to his left and he pulled saves. Congratulations to Sundowns, well done to Onyango for making man of the match but I strongly believe we gave it away,” Komphela lamented.

Chiefs will look to bounce back in the PSL this weekend when they take on Bidvest Wits.

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