Elimination from the pre-season Vodacom Challenge tournament on Thursday meant that The Amakhosi would spend Saturday morning on the training ground in Naturena, while Muhsin Ertugral spent a cold chilly Saturday morning running the roost over his players.

The clubs medical staff were busy mending the wounded, with midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala been added to the casualty list after he injured his left ankle during Thursday evenings Vodacom Challenge game against Orlando Pirates.

The young instrumental midfielder received a stud’s first challenge from Pirates Josephy Kamwendo in the 68th minute of the game, as a result of the tackle he was unable to play any further part in the game and was replaced by David Radebe a few minutes later.

Siphiwe Tshabalala

While Tshabalala has shown some signs of improvement the feeling is that the midfielder will be given time to recover, and is expected to make a full recovery and be fully fit by the time Chiefs face Benoni Premier United in their opening league fixture on the 15th August.

Although there was some initial concern over Tshabalala’s injury on Thursday evening, the swelling on his injured left ankle has substantially subsided Tshabalala is expected to be back at full training with in a week.

Chiefs Physiotherapist David Milner while talking to kaizerchiefs.com on Saturday morning said of Tshabalala’s progress, “he had a lot of swelling on the ankle on Thursday evening and Friday morning. The swelling though had significantly gone down by Saturday morning, which is a welcome relief we have though recommended to the coach that he be over looked for the Telkom Charity cup as a precautionary measure”.

Obua off for a scan

So what was one piece of good news on the injury front could get even better for The Amakhosi as defender David Obua is believed to have made a full recovery from a hip injury, he picked while on duty with the Ugandan national team in June.

Obua who starred for the Cranes when they picked up an unlikely three points in a 2-1 win over the Super Eagles of Nigeria during an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game, played in Kampala at the start of June. Injured himself during that game and has spent most of the pre-season getting over the injury, which kept him out of playing for an African XI team against a World XI a fortnight ago.

Chiefs will be sending the lanky defender for a scan on Monday, as Milner explains the scan is a mere formality “we feel that David is ready to begin full training, just as a precautionary measure we will be sending him for a scan. We need to get a second opinion to confirm whether he is fully over the injury, we are fairly confident that he will be able to resume normal training early in the week”.

In the meantime Milner has also said that the likes of defender Siphiwe Mkhonza suffering for the past two weeks with a stomach muscle strain, will be back on the training ground on Monday and should be available for selection should Chiefs qualify for the Telkom Charity to be staged next weekend in Mmabatho The breaking news on the injury front for Chiefs is the information that Kaizer Motaung Junior, Chiefs top goal scorer and player of the season in 2006 – 2007 could be at full throttle soon. Motaung, who as a result of an ankle injury he picked up during a league game against Moroka Swallows on the 1st April, missed the run into the season which meant that he narrowly missed out on the opportunity to have walked away with the PSL top goal scorer award, will be looking forward to getting back into action and Chiefs coach Muhsin Ertugral will welcome the fact that he will have an extra attacking option.