Chiefs Coach”Lost For Words” After TS Galaxy Draw
Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef was left lost for words after his team failed to beat TS Galaxy in their final Betway Premiership match of 2025 at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.
Ben Youssef, who shares coaching duties with Cedric Kaze, also lamented the disallowed goal scored by Flavio Da Silva in the first half, which was ruled offside despite appearing legitimate.
Despite being held to a draw, Chiefs climbed to fourth place in the Betway Premiership with 24 points from 13 matches, moving ahead of AmaZulu on goal difference. They also maintained their unbeaten away record, having won three of their five matches on the road.
However, they were up against a Galaxy side that has been equally strong at home. Galaxy sit third in the home-form standings, behind Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns, and came into the match having won four of their last five home fixtures—their only defeat coming against Durban City on the opening day of the season.
“Pretty nice game, engaging. I think our fans enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we were unlucky not to win because, if you look at the stats, we deserved to win,” said Ben Youssef.
“We scored a good goal—in my opinion, a very good goal. We created more than 12 or 13 opportunities, had 26 shots on target, and finally, we just have to continue working. I don’t want to keep repeating that we’re unlucky, but now we have the break to correct our mistakes and continue improving.
“I’m proud of the players. They produced a very good performance today. I’m proud of all of them, even those who came off the bench. But that’s football.”
Chiefs introduced Luke Baartman for his first appearance of the season, much to the excitement of the supporters. Baartman, who was involved in a long transfer dispute with Cape Town Spurs, replaced Lehlogonolo Matlou with 10 minutes to play and nearly marked his debut with a goal, but his effort at the back post was deflected out for a corner.
Ben Youssef said Baartman’s introduction was partly due to the team’s shortage of attacking options caused by injuries.
“Baartman is a Kaizer Chiefs player, and he deserves to play. If you are part of the team, you deserve to play,” he said.
“I’m not only talking about Baartman, but about all the players. The players who deserve to play will play. We’re unlucky with the injuries to our strikers.
“We don’t have Etiosa Ighodaro—hopefully he’ll be back for the next game, Inshallah. Glody Lilepo is back, but he’s not ready to play 90 minutes. If all our strikers were available, I think the team would perform even better.”
