Royal AM co-coach Abram Nteo is excited to see Samir Nurkovic back to training, predicting the powerful striker will be back in the side after the upcoming FIFA international break.
Nurkovic started training with the club on Wednesday as iDiski Times reported, after he overcame a serious knee injury that has seen him miss all matches for Shauwn ‘MamMkhize’ Mkhize’s club so far.
The former Kaizer Chiefs striker might be fit when Royal AM visit SuperSport United on 4 October at Lucas Moripe Stadium after the enforced FIFA international break.
“He just started training with the club on Wednesday,” said Nteo at the training session at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Thursday.
“But we are expecting him to be back after the FIFA international break. We will work with him and make sure that he gets back to full fitness.
“After that we are hopeful that we will use his services to help us in the coming games.”
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The Serbian striker, who was released by Chiefs at the end of last term, could be facing his former coach Gavin Hunt who was in charge of Amakhosi in the short period between September 2020 until May last year.
After Chiefs made history to progress to the group stages of the CAF Champions League for the first time in their history, Nurkovic was a key factor, scoring twice for Hunt’s side in the 4-0 win over Simba SC in the first leg of the quarter-final.
He also netted the all important goal against Wydad Casablanca in the semi-final first leg in Morocco that sealed Chiefs place in the Champions League final. Chiefs, in doing so, became the first club from Mzansi to win in Morocco in the CAF premier club competition.
These are reasons why AM signed Nurkovic in the first place as they are making their debut in the Confederation Cup this season after finishing third last term.
Having got a draw against Mbabane Highlanders in the first leg of the preliminary rounds last weekend in eSwatini, Nteo knows what they need to do to progress to the first round of the competition.
“We have worked with our boys to make sure that we don’t allow them to play behind,” said Nteo who was John Maduka’s assistant coach at Bloemfontein Celtic in the same competition in the 2020/21 season.
“All we need to do is make sure that we don’t concede a goal but score goals.”
AM needs to win to progress to the next stage of the competition. However, a score draw will see them eliminated in the competition altogether.
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