Sirino fixed on ending Kaizer Chiefs’ trophy drought
Playmaker keen to add another Nedbank Cup to his impressive haul of medals with Sundowns
06 May 2025 - 14:58
by Sihle Ndebele
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Kaizer Chiefs playmaker Gaston Sirino, who won more than 10 trophies during his six-year stay at Mamelodi Sundowns, is hungry to win the Nedbank Cup with Amakhosi to end the club’s nearly decade-long trophy drought.
Chiefs, whose last piece of silverware was the 2014/15 league title, face their Soweto rivals, Orlando Pirates, in the final at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm).
“I want to make history here [at Chiefs] and the Nedbank Cup is a good opportunity for me to do that, Sirino said at the club’s training facilities at Naturena.
“Of course, I have already won this cup with Sundowns but it’s the opportunity for many players here to win it for the first time.”
Speaking to the media for the first time since joining from Sundowns in August 2024, the 34-year-old Uruguayan said squad depth was a major difference between successful Sundowns and struggling Chiefs, who have suffered a spate of injuries.
“Here [at Chiefs] there’s no … [depth]. At Sundowns, there’s too many players, all good players … here, there’s one injury and another player is also injured and the team is short,” Sirino said.
“Sometimes [Inacio] Miguel or somebody [else] is injured, sometimes [Bradley] Cross [who is primarily a left-back] is playing centre-back [because of injuries]. At Sundowns, you won’t see that because there’s so many players but the quality here is also good.”
Chiefs have had a mediocre PSL campaign, having already lost 12 times and failed to win three consecutive games so far this season.
Sirino said that sometimes they “relax” when they score and that had to be eliminated.
Chiefs head into Saturday’s cup final after a 2-1 league game defeat to Pirates last weekend and a loss on Saturday would give Pirates six consecutive wins over their archrivals.
“Sometimes we play well but don’t win, but the final will be a different game … it’s a one-off, and we know we need to win.
“Even on Saturday we played better than Pirates but we lost, so this time around we need to push more and make sure we control the game better.
“Sometimes we score and relax, so we need to do away with that,” Sirino said.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Sirino fixed on ending Kaizer Chiefs’ trophy drought
Playmaker keen to add another Nedbank Cup to his impressive haul of medals with Sundowns
Kaizer Chiefs playmaker Gaston Sirino, who won more than 10 trophies during his six-year stay at Mamelodi Sundowns, is hungry to win the Nedbank Cup with Amakhosi to end the club’s nearly decade-long trophy drought.
Chiefs, whose last piece of silverware was the 2014/15 league title, face their Soweto rivals, Orlando Pirates, in the final at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm).
“I want to make history here [at Chiefs] and the Nedbank Cup is a good opportunity for me to do that, Sirino said at the club’s training facilities at Naturena.
“Of course, I have already won this cup with Sundowns but it’s the opportunity for many players here to win it for the first time.”
Speaking to the media for the first time since joining from Sundowns in August 2024, the 34-year-old Uruguayan said squad depth was a major difference between successful Sundowns and struggling Chiefs, who have suffered a spate of injuries.
“Here [at Chiefs] there’s no … [depth]. At Sundowns, there’s too many players, all good players … here, there’s one injury and another player is also injured and the team is short,” Sirino said.
“Sometimes [Inacio] Miguel or somebody [else] is injured, sometimes [Bradley] Cross [who is primarily a left-back] is playing centre-back [because of injuries]. At Sundowns, you won’t see that because there’s so many players but the quality here is also good.”
Chiefs have had a mediocre PSL campaign, having already lost 12 times and failed to win three consecutive games so far this season.
Sirino said that sometimes they “relax” when they score and that had to be eliminated.
Chiefs head into Saturday’s cup final after a 2-1 league game defeat to Pirates last weekend and a loss on Saturday would give Pirates six consecutive wins over their archrivals.
“Sometimes we play well but don’t win, but the final will be a different game … it’s a one-off, and we know we need to win.
“Even on Saturday we played better than Pirates but we lost, so this time around we need to push more and make sure we control the game better.
“Sometimes we score and relax, so we need to do away with that,” Sirino said.
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