Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has revealed he was close to handing 20-year-old midfielder Samkelo Zwane his first team debut with Amakhosi.
Zwane, the son of former Orlando Pirates and Jomo Cosmos midfielder Eugene Zwane, made his first appearance in the first team as Chiefs lost to Royal AM on penalties in the Macufe Cup after the game finished 1-1 in regulation time.
The twenty-year-old midfielder earned some plaudits in recent months and head coach Zwane admitted he was close to handing him his official senior team debut against Swallows to send a message to other young players in the Reserves and U19, but his plans changed when the Dube Birds pulled one back, leaving the match on the knife’s edge.
“Maybe it could have been a situation of having these games back-to-back, we just played a very good game over the weekend and coming into this game we’re obviously played against a team coming in fresh,” Zwane said.
“At some point, if we not going to manage the game properly, we’re gonna drop and that’s why we wanted to make some changes at some point but when we conceded that goal we needed to lock the game, we needed to save some of the players for Cape Town.
“We needed the players like Njabulo [Blom], we were planning to bring in the young Samkelo Zwane, Mshini, maybe Bibo instead maybe playing with Cole. But unfortunately, we found ourselves under pressure – we had to make sure, we had to bring in experience to lock the game up and make sure we consolidate.
“We really want to give these young boys an opportunity, our boys just won the Engen Champ of Champions, and Wandile [Duba] has been scoring goals left right and centre. When you give youngsters opportunities in games like this, it gives those who are still playing in the U19s and Reserves hope.
“So we thought maybe we could kill the game, get the third [goal]. We had the opportunity to kill the game off and give other youngsters a run – that will build in that system where we want to play, it will give them confidence because they don’t come in under pressure.
“But we couldn’t throw them in at that time when we needed to consolidate and make sure we get maximum points.”
Chiefs, who climbed into fifth place on the log, now travel to Cape Town, where they will face sixth-placed Stellenbosch FC at the DHL Stadium at 15:30 on Sunday.
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