Kaizer Chiefs forward Wandile Duba has hogged the limelight since scoring for the Glamour Boys in their 2-1 win over Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup semi-final.
Duba started the second half comeback, when his goal cancelled out Teboho Mokoena’s first half strike for the Brazilians, before Ashley Du Preez won it late for Chiefs.
The forward showed good awareness to press Sundowns defender Lucas Suarez, and rob him of the ball, before slotting past Ronwen Williams for what was his sixth goal of the season across all competitions.
However, ex-Chiefs striker Mike Rapatsa feels the young forward should have scored many more goals by now for Nasreddine Nabi’s team had he been getting the right service.
What is hindering ‘quality striker’ Duba?
“Duba for me is a quality striker. Remember what makes a quality striker is quality midfielders and quality supply. But he is being failed by his own midfielders,” Rapatsa told FARPost.
“For a striker to score a goal, he needs to get passes. Even if you can be skillful, you can’t always turn and score because he is always closely marked by players. They need to work for him. Individually, for me, he has all that it takes to be a good striker.”
Rapatsa feels Chiefs have many great attacking players that would be doing damage to opponents but they are let down by the lack of service, which forces the forwards to create chances out of nothing, like Duba did last Sunday.
“We have so many attacking players in the team. Duba sometimes has to go solo to score goals like he did against Sundowns after he intercepted a pass from [Lucas] Suarez. Was that a creative goal? No,” he went on.
Rapatsa calls for more creativity at Chiefs
“When you look at the entire game, there was also no creativity. He was not given forward passes that allowed him to be one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
“Why don’t we always get passes coming from the middle that allow our fast wing players like Duba to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper?” Rapatsa posed.
Rapatsa’s suggestions, however, go against the observations of many, including Nabi, who believe the Glamour Boys are among the teams that create lots of chances but are let down by poor finishing.
The Chiefs forwards will need to show their sharpness in the remaining matches of the season as they look for a higher finish in the PSL, than their current eighth place, while there is the Nedbank Cup final against bitter rivals Orlando Pirates on May 10, where a first trophy in 10 years is at stake.
