Impressive debut for Christian Saile revs up Chiefs for second half of season

Christian Saile had just 34 minutes of normal time plus some added time in his Kaizer Chiefs debut. That was enough for the team's new striker to have the squad, coaching staff and supporters excited at his prospects.

The 22-year-old signing from Zambia's Nchanga Rangers twice showed a burst of electrifying speed and impressive control with the ball glued to his feet towards the end of Chiefs' 2-0 DStv Premiership win against Royal AM at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday.

The first was when he slipped the ball between Ricardo Nascimento’s legs soon after the striker from Democratic Republic of the Congo was introduced for Caleb-Bonfils Bimenyimana in the 56th minute. Saile left the Brazilian centre-back rooted to the spot and streaked through, unable to get power on a shot from an awkward angle.

With the clock winding down Saile beat Thabo Matlaba for pace on the right and squared for Ashley du Preez to bury a third league goal of 2022-23 and first since October.

It's early to hail any sort of arrival, but Saile's display had the TV commentators purring and gave insight into why Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane labelled the striker a “scoring machine”.

Even Bimenyimana — the Burundian whose many penalties have taken him to second place on the league scoring chart, but whose awkward touch has raised questions on his quality — seemed overexcited in his encouragement for the new player, perhaps revealing a nervousness for his position in the squad.

“We knew when Christian came on [he could do something]. We didn't want to start him, the reason being we wanted to look at how the opposition would set up,” Zwane said.

“We also did not want to put him under pressure. We wanted him to read the game from the bench and then capitalise and take advantage from there.

“And whatever information we gave to him before he went in, he did exactly that — congrats to him and the rest of the guys for executing the plan.”

Chiefs lost both their right backs, Reeve Frosler and the player who replaced him, Dillan Solomons, through injury in the win.

That toll will be negated to a large extent by Saile's promising display and Du Preez, who has missed glaring chances and had the supporters on his back, getting on the scoresheet.

Du Preez and his teammates' reaction at his goal told a story of how much it meant to the striker and his side.

“I was not worried about Ash [du Preez]. When you look at Ash he's a team player,” Zwane said.

“Sometimes he doesn't score, but he creates, he does well at defending. It was just a matter of time before he scored.”

Fifth-placed Chiefs got their first win against Royal, first of 2023, and ended a three-game losing streak.

It was Saile's display that would have given the team and its supporters hope they have found a point-man to lead a more consistent performance in the second half of the season.

Amakhosi meet TS Galaxy next at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday (3.30pm).