Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
WARRIORS’ defender, Teenage Hadebe, made his continental debut for Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday when he started in the Caf Confideration Cup preliminary round first-leg encounter against Zanzibar’s Zamamoto in a match in which fellow Warriors’ teammate Khama Billiat scored a hattrick in Amakhosi’s 4-0 win.
As Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas was handing the former Bantu Rovers, Chicken Inn and Highlanders’ defender his continental debut, another Warriors player, who, however, had found breaking into the starting 11 difficult, Kuda Mahachi was also handed his continental debut for Orlando Pirates as they made light work of Seychelles visitors, Lightstars 5-1 in the Caf Champions League preliminary round first-leg encounter.
However, the night belonged to Billiat, who had a dream debut for Amakhosi with three well taken goals to seal a comfortable win for Kaizer Chiefs to quickly erase the memories of a derby defeat to Pirates in the semi-finals of the Telkom Cup.
Two of Billiat’s goals were from set pieces, while the other was a long range shot from outside the box. Coach Solinas rang changes in the Amakhosi backline, bringing in Hadebe, Erick Mathoho, Daniel Cardoso and Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya, while keeping the inspirational Itumelang Khune in between the sticks.
Warriors’ returnee, Willard Katsande, kept his starting place and had a good game.
derick.khumalo