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JOHANNESBURG. — When Zimbabwean international striker Khama Billiat looked ahead to the 2022-23 South African Premiership football season at the start of the campaign, he surely must have pencilled in February 25 — the Soweto Derby — as a potential headline-making opportunity, and a chance to truly leave his mark on the biggest fixture in South African football.
The Soweto Derby today could have been one of Billiat’s crowning career glories.
Instead, he’ll be watching on from the stands, having been sidelined with a season-ending injury that brings the curtain down on his campaign… and most likely, on his Chiefs career.
Out of contract during the off-season, it’s not impossible that the Glamour Boys extend his contract, but given his salary, his injury record and his middling performances this term, would it make sense for the domestic giants — in the midst of a major overhaul — to tie up salary in a player whose best days are behind him?
In a different world, maybe we’d be looking ahead at today’s fixture as an opportunity for Billiat to prove to Bobby Motaung and the rest that he can still be a key protagonist in the club’s future, with or without head coach Arthur Zwane.
Instead, it’s yet another potential major career highlight that’s passed him by, with Billiat consistently failing to recapture the glory that he enjoyed during his prime years with Mamelodi Sundowns.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Zimbabwe international was in the midst of his league successes with the Brazilians, also enjoying success in the Nedbank Cup, the Telkom Knockout and in continental competition, with CAF Champions League glory in 2016.
While 2016 was Billiat’s apogee — winning the PSL Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season gongs — it’s easy to forget that CAF Champions League final first leg against SC Zamalek of Egypt actually passed him by.
The forward was quiet, marked out of the game, and was withdrawn on the hour mark as the likes of Percy Tau, Anthony Laffor and Tebogo Langerman secured continental glory for Sundowns.
A magnificent year, but a big occasion came and went without Billiat being able to leave his mark.
The European move that had been mooted ultimately never came, and amidst increasing injury concerns, he committed his future to the South African Premier Soccer League…albeit away from Sundowns.
His move to Chiefs in 2018 was heralded as a potential shift in power in domestic football, but he’ll likely depart without any silverware, his time with the Glamour Boys overlapping with a serious period of transition for the club.
There have been glittering moments, but also slumps, and hasn’t come close to match the output of his first campaign—18/19—when he had a hand in 21 goals in all competitions.
Because of where Chiefs sit when he departs the club, because of the uncertainty, the speculation, the swell of dissatisfaction around Arthur Zwane, it’s hard to argue that Billiat has been anything other than a flop at Naturena.
An absolute delight in the South African PSL during his prime, but Billiat won’t be present to light up the Soweto Derby, he likely won’t get the opportunity to salvage his Chiefs career.
Indeed, the jury’s out on whether the curtain is about to fall on Billiat’s time in South African football. — Goal.com.
Online Reporter