by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
Editor-In-Chief
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – ELVIS Chipezeze has denied recurring accusations of unsporting behaviour, leveled against him by Pitso Mosimane.
The Baroka goalkeeper has repeatedly incurred the wrath of the Mamelodi Sundowns coach each time the two sides clash.
Although Chipezeze did not feature in the most recent meeting between the two teams, his name cropped up.
Mosimane, whose side has mostly struggled against the Limpopo based outfit, accuses the Baroka captain of time wasting.
The accusations first emerged at the end of 2018 when Bakgakga held Mamelodi Sundowns to a goalless draw at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Tshwane.
Chipezeze was named Man of the Match, a development that further infuriated Mosimane.
Last month, the Sundowns coach took another dig at the acrobatic goal minder even though he sat out the match because of suspension. Ayanda Dlamini started instead.
Sundowns lost 0-1 to the bogey Baroka FC side at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto.
Mosimane appeared to insinuate Dlamini was emulating Chipezeze, denouncing the latter as “a master of sitting and killing the game.”
The Zimbabwean goalkeeper has broken his silence over the accusations of bad sportsmanship in an exclusive interview with CAJ News Africa.
“It’s not antics at all,” the 30-year-old said.
“Rather, I call it game management,” Chipezeze added.
He said as a goalkeeper and captain, he had the added responsibility of managing the game.
“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,” the skipper said.
“It’s not always good to be dictated play by your opponents. We should rather counter their strategy. I call that game management,” Chipezeze insisted.
While they had their relegation woes to worry about, Baroka had a reputation of party poopers during the just-ended season.
That win against Sundowns delayed the newly-crowned league champions’ coronation.
They followed that up with a spoilsport performance that denied Kaizer Chiefs the title on the last day of the campaign. The match at Bidvest Stadium ended in 1-1 scoreline.
Those two matches were a turning point as the perennial relegation fighters avoided the axe to the first division.
Chipezeze hailed his teammates, particularly for the performance versus Chiefs.
“That match against Chiefs was a humdinger,” he said.
“We were fighting to evade the looming relegation while Chiefs wanted to claim the league title. So, there was no way we were going to allow our opponents to kick us out of the Premiership.”
Chipezeze meanwhile disclosed Baroka were aiming for a top eight finish next season.
“It is not nice to be at the bottom of the league table every season. It must come to an end,” he said.
“We must start winning games and collect valuable points. We also hope to win trophies too,” the player added.
While history suggests a top eight finish would be far-fetched, history would also affirm winning trophies is possible after Baroka lifted the Telkom Knockout in 2018.
Chipezeze has been a key member of the side after joining from Zimbabwe’s Chicken Inn earlier that year.
He has accumulated over 60 matches since his debut against in the one-all draw against Highlands Park at Peter Mokaba Stadium.
– CAJ News