Amakhosi despatched Chippa United from the Nedbank Cup at the FNB stadium on Saturday in an emphatic 3—0 victory in their Round of 16 tie.
A first half beauty from Gaston Sirino set the tone and two second half strikes from Inacio Miguel and Pule Mmodi respectively underlined Amakhosi’s dominance over the 90 minutes.
In front of a boisterous home crowd, Amakhosi were quickly into their stride, knocking the ball around confidently and winning the ball back immediately through their well-coordinated press.
Pule Mmodi gave a glimpse of what was to come in the 4th minute when he shot wide after being set up by good combination work down the left involving Glody Lilepo and Happy Mashiane.
A similar move on the opposite flank produced the goal in the 13th minute, with Thabo Cele’s clever pass freeing Frosler to cut the ball back into Sirino’s path, and the diminutive Uruguayan met the ball perfectly first-time, from 18 yards out to fire a sublime shot into the top corner of the net.
Amakhosi continued to call the shots and Chippa were restricted to a few counter-attacks which were easily dealt with by Inacio Miguel and his defensive unit.
At the other end, Tashreeq Morris twice forced saves from Chippa goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, as Amakhosi looked to extend their lead.
For much of the first half, Chppa offered little in the way of threat, although that was predominantly due to Chiefs giving them no time on the ball to create anything meaningful. Yet, as the half edged towards the break, the Chilli Boys managed to mount some offence and , on the stroke of halftime, Bruce Bvuma was called upon to tip a 20-yard Giovanni Philander volley over the bar in spectacular fashion, thus maintaining Chiefs’ 1-0 lead going into the break.
Nasreddine Nabi’s men needed some time to get back up to speed in the early stages of the second period, but the introduction of George Matlou on the hour mark sparked them into a higher gear. Within seconds of coming on, the classy midfielder flashed a dangerous ball across goal that Morris was a whisker away from tapping home.
On 70 minutes, Mmodi had a shot parried by Nwabali and then, four minutes later, mayhem ensued as Lilepo played a superb ball across field from the right and, when Nwabali fumbled the ball Mmodi nipped in to steal it only to be brought down by the ‘keeper. As the referee was assessing, Nwabali brought down Mduduzii Shabalala, who had latched onto the loose ball.
