The group of players who will arrive at Taung Village in Naturena this morning will not be a deflated bunch, as would usually be the case following the weekend’s result.
Beaten 1-0 by their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates in the Soweto Derby at the FNB Stadium, Kaizer Chiefs should ordinarily be in mourning, with this morning’s session more of examining the wreckage. The reality of Saturday's match at a packed FNB Stadium, though, is that while they lost, Amakhosi had a lot to be pleased with from their showing.
https://youtu.be/hAFLwSS9PXs?si=XEqRwT78PYtKkwB6
Rightly installed as overwhelming underdogs prior to the match against a team currently at the top of continental football following their impressive qualification for the CAF Champions League quarter-final, Amakhosi gave as good as they got. They lost the match via a penalty in time added on for stoppages after 90 minutes, having gone toe-to-toe with Pirates.
Chiefs should have scored as early as the fifth minute, but Pule Mmodi inexplicably wasted a glorious one-on-one chance with Sipho Chaine.
There were times in the match when the Chiefs’ passing machine ran with such precision that the Pirates players hardly got a look in, and that is something they will surely take from a derby that was supposed to confirm that Chiefs are nowhere near getting back to the glory days.
Saturday’s showing illustrated that Nasredinne Nabi is slowly but surely beginning to make his mark on a Chiefs side that has not won any silverware in nine seasons. The Tunisian himself expressed satisfaction with what he saw.
“I am very happy with the progress of my team,” he said, during the post-match conference deep in the bowels of the FNB Stadium. “Five or six months into the project, the mentality of the team has changed if we compare it with last season, and I am finding positives with my players.
“To my fans, I promise them that Kaizer Chiefs will come back, and I am not just saying this. Yes, we lost the game, but there were many good things about the team today.”
Chiefs played with structure and purpose, while hardly looking overawed by their more revered opposition. On the occasions their defence got breached, their goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma was imperious, pulling off some fantastic saves to keep Chiefs in the game whenever Pirates had the upper hand.
That’s surely something for them to build on going forward.
“It (our performance) was not good because it was the derby. It was good because the players are progressing and they are getting where we want them to be. For the next games, the other players will be coming back from injuries, and that will increase the level of competitiveness in the team. That can only improve the level of performance in the next one.”
Reasonable assessment
There was also the introduction of new signings Thabo Cele and Glody Lilepo. The duo did not play long enough for anyone to make a reasonable assessment but they have come highly recommended.
“I believe that for the time they were on the field, they showed some good quality. But you have to understand that they only trained four days after long trips from Europe, and they were not training regularly before they came here.
“In the few minutes we saw, there is quality, and we are thus happy with the players who came on. We take this opportunity to say thank you to the management and the board for those signings.”
Next up for Chiefs is AmaZulu on Tuesday in a Betway Premiership clash at the FNB Stadium.