Merit, not age, matters at Chiefs – coach

Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef has made it clear that in their eyes, as the team's technical panel, there's no young player in the squad, saying all the youngsters in the team are getting playing chances on merit.

A few of Chiefs' youngsters, who graduated from their MultiChoice Diski Challenge (DDC) stream, impressed in their 2-0 league opener win over Stellenbosch at Athlone Stadium on Sunday. Chiefs' next game is against Polokwane City at FNB Stadium tomorrow (7.30pm).

Centre-back Aden McCarthy, who was only starting his second official game for the first team since his promotion from DDC side last year, was voted man of the match, while other club's recent youth development graduates like Mduduzi Shabalala and Mfundo Vilakazi showed flashes of brilliance.

“For us we don't see the age...we don't have young players. If you deserve to play, you will play for the team, so we don't think about the name, the age but we only think about the performance, especially in training,'' Ben Youssef said.

“Aden was with us last season but his performances weren't very good and we discussed it with him. He kept working hard and he was one of our best players during the preseason. He deserves to play, we don't give him gifts but it's his performances from training that allow him to play. We also thank our DDC coaches for preparing these players for us.”

Ben Youssef stood in for head coach Nasreddine Nabi, who left the country for his native Tunisia two days before the game after his wife was involved in a car accident. The Amakhosi assistant coach highlighted that they were playing for Nabi, hoping his wife recovers quickly in order for the coach to come back and be with the team.

“Congratulations to all the players. We promised to win this game for our coach, Nareddine Nabi, as all of you know that his wife was in an accident and we pray for her inshallah to be better so that the coach comes back soon to be with us,'' Ben Youssef said.

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