Kaizer Chiefs defender Ramahlwe Mphahlele believes it would be unrealistic for his side to be thinking about the title, although Bernard Parker feels differently, writes Dean Workman.
Chiefs face Maritzburg United this Saturday and will need to pick up all three points in order to stay within a long shot of catching the team at the top of the table.
The Amakhosi come into the encounter eight points off the top, and Mphahlele was asked at a media open day if Chiefs were still in the title race.
‘For us, honestly speaking, I think it’s unrealistic for us [to win the title],’ replied the Bafana Bafana international.
‘Maybe if the technical team [Ernst Middendorp and co] had come a little bit earlier it could have been a different story, maybe if we had collected the points we were supposed to collect, maybe we would be speaking differently.
‘Against Polokwane [City], against Cape Town [City] and against Sundowns those are the points where you look back and think if we didn’t lose those points we would be up there competing.
‘But we are saying it’s water under the bridge, can we try and fight for the points remaining, it would be unrealistic to say we can fight for the league when we are number eight [on the log],’ concluded the defender.
Out at Naturena as @KaizerChiefs prepare to face @MaritzburgUtd in the #AbsaPrem this weekend. pic.twitter.com/Xle7XG1ex3
— Dean Workman (@DeanoWorks) March 7, 2019
Parker, on the other hand, had a different point of view when he was later asked about Mphahlele’s opinion about their title hopes.
‘Everybody has their own opinions, but I don’t believe that’s true what Rama said. Maybe he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,’ said the 32-year-old forward jokingly. He has just been handed a one-year contract extension.
‘It’s for us to believe, if we believe, anything is possible.
‘We know we have the quality, we have the best technical staff, we have the best facilities and resources.
‘It is just for now as players to give our all for the remaining matches, and I know if we do that our quality will show automatically. I think it is up to us,’ concluded Parker.
