New Chiefs coach Solinas expected to be involved in pre-season friendly against Sundowns

18 July 2018 - 17:51 By Marc Strydom
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Newly appointed Kaizer Chiefs head coach Giovanni Solinas (R) chats to his assistant Patrick Mabedi during the Maize Cup match between Kaizer Chiefs and Buya Msuthu at the James Motlatsi Stadium, Orkney on July 14 2018.
Newly appointed Kaizer Chiefs head coach Giovanni Solinas (R) chats to his assistant Patrick Mabedi during the Maize Cup match between Kaizer Chiefs and Buya Msuthu at the James Motlatsi Stadium, Orkney on July 14 2018.
Image: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

New Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas has begun to familiarise himself with his surroundings at the club's Naturena headquarters as he awaits his work permit to arrive next week‚ Amakhosi communications manager Vina Maphosa has said.

Solinas is not expected to be on the bench when Chiefs meet Mamelodi Sundowns in Saturday’s Shell Helix Ultra Cup preseason friendly at FNB Stadium.

Maphosa said the final paperwork for Solinas’s work permit will be submitted at Home Affairs on Thursday.

“The coach has started doing work on the field with the players. The training sessions have been encouraging to see‚” Maphosa said on Wednesday.

“I got from our administration that his work permit process is going well and it is being submitted tomorrow [on Thursday] and it should take a week.”

Solinas‚ the 50-year-old Italian former Free State Stars coach announced as Chiefs’ new boss on social media on Friday‚ is expected to watch his new team from the stands in the Shell Helix Cup.

“The issue of the bench is a bit dicey because remember this is a friendly match where you don’t necessarily produce cards to play‚” Maphosa said.

“That will be managed as to how far he can go being involved.

"But he will be involved somehow in that dressing room. He might be in the stands but he will definitely be involved.”

Solinas on Wednesday was part of Chiefs’ visit‚ as part of a 67 Minutes for Mandela charity activity‚ to Almont Technical High School in Protea South‚ Soweto.

“We came here to inspire. Also we indentified certain needs.

"One is that the school at some point was faced with a high teenage pregnancy rate‚” Maphosa said.

“We are looking after the girl child‚ so we donated some sanitary pads to show our sign of support.

“We handed out Kaizer Chiefs kit to support the soccer teams at the school. We also came here to identify some areas of need‚ such as cleaning the school‚ which we will do in the coming week‚ by players and staff from Chiefs.

“We also have been shown a computer lab that needs some attention‚ and we will go back to the office to mull around how we can help.”

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