Former Kaizer Chiefs head coach Cavin Johnson has ruled Amakhosi out of the Betway Premiership title race, backing Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates to battle for the championship.
The 67-year-old coach believes the title race is already shaping up to be a two-horse race between the reigning champions Sundowns and Pirates.
Despite Chiefs making a decent start to the season under new head coach Fernando Da Cruz, Johnson does not believe they are ready to challenge for the title.
“When you look at it now, it’s a two-horse race. I think it’s six games now. It’s Sundowns and Pirates,” Johnson told FARPost.
“There are a lot of things you have to take into consideration now, but I say it’s Sundowns and Pirates, and then, of course, AmaZulu, who look steady at the beginning of the season.”
Johnson coached Chiefs for just one season
Johnson also explained why he believes Da Cruz faces a difficult task in his first season in South African football.
“It’s very difficult [for Chiefs] because they change their line-up quite often. He [Da Cruz] changes one or two players; sometimes he changes three players.
“It’s a very difficult scenario because he is also new to South African football. So, he has to learn, and you know we have 11 different cultures, and he comes from one culture.
“He worked in Morocco; we all understand football, and football is the same all over the world. It’s played XI vs XI, and it’s about the quality of players you have on the pitch. But besides the quality we have on the pitch, we also have different dimensions and hierarchy on the pitch.”
The former Amakhosi coach also highlighted the cultural dynamics that coaches need to understand when working in South African football.
“If you know the Zulu culture, then it’s a different culture. Then the Xhosa culture is a different one. Then you have the players who I call the coloured players, who are the black players from Cape Town and coloured players from Johannesburg,” explained Johnson, who has also coached AmaZulu.
Johnson believes Chiefs have shown enough quality to compete but have been let down by costly mistakes.
“How have they [Chiefs] been playing now? Yes, they made some very big errors in games that they should have won.
“They have had some good scoring opportunities in games that they have been good in certain moments of the match. But then, as we all have seen, it’s the big mistakes that they have been making in different departments.”