Chipezeze under fire for unsporting behaviour
Source: Zimbabwe Herald Online
Johannesburg. -- Upington City head coach Thulani Nkosi has expressed outrage over Magesi FC keeper Elvis Chipezeze's unsportsmanlike behaviour, accusing him of deliberate time-wasting in their recent South African Motsepe Foundation Championship league match.
Upington lost 2-1 to Magesi FC in their last match of the year at Peter Mokaba Stadium this week.
They are now three points behind log leaders Orbit College as the race for automatic promotion to the DStv Premiership heats up. The league is set to resume in February due to the AFCON break.
Speaking after the match in Polokwane, Nkosi lashed out at the veteran keeper for what he says is time-wasting antics.
"There is a little bit of disappointment because you still have an international goalkeeper, so to say, coming with his old antics of wasting time like this," he said.
"I mean; you expect those international players when they come here to contribute positively to our football. But you get mediocre like this, I mean it's mediocre. But it's okay, okay we will live with it," he said.
With only 13 rounds of fixtures remaining, Nkosi says he expects some ghost results which the team needs to be prepared for.
"When we come for the second round we expect even the ghost results if you know what I mean. We are still expecting that and I saw a glimpse of it in this game and you ask yourself if it's now starting. Obviously, you need to prepare yourself psychologically when those moments happen.
"But we only take the positives and as you said where the team is now and where it's coming from. Being the newbies in this league. You can only give credit to the players because we tend to take credit as coaches of the team. We forget about these boys."
In 2020, the former Zimbabwe international was in the news after an attack by then Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane who called Chipezeze "the master" of time-wasting in the South African Premier Soccer League.
Mosimane made the remarks after Baroka edged the Brazilians 1-0 in August, a result that risked Downs' title challenge three matches before the conclusion of the PSL season.
Although Chipezeze was suspended from that match, his understudy Ayanda Dlamini appeared to be killing minutes, especially in the second half to frustrate Sundowns.
After the match, a seemingly angry Mosimane claimed Dlamini had taken time-wasting notes from the Zimbabwean, but Chipezeze says the Downs coach is wrong in his assertion.
"It's not antics at all," Chipezeze told CAJ News.
"Rather, I call it game management. As a captain, sometimes, if I sense danger coming from our opponents, I have to be smart, tactical, strategic and devise manoeuvres to manage the game.