‘We just need to be more clinical when we play them in the second leg,’ said the Chiefs assistant coach.
Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Cedric Kaze believes Amakhosi must be more clinical in front of goal if they are to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of their Caf Confederation Cup first preliminary round clash with Angola’s Kabuscorp at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
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“We know we can hurt them, even today we had a couple of opportunities to get inside the box and score,” said Kaze after Kabuscorp substitute Julio had headed in the only goal of the game at the November 11 Stadium in Luanda.
Underwhelming Chiefs
“We just need to be more clinical when we play them in the second leg.”
In truth, Chiefs were underwhelming in Luanda. They created only a few opportunities, with Thabo Cele hitting the woodwork in the second half.
They failed to threaten their opponent’s goal nearly enough. Kaze and Chiefs’ other assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef took charge of the match, with head coach Nasreddine Nabi no longer with the team.
After reports of Nabi getting the axe surface last week, the Chiefs head coach himself confirmed his exit in an interview with winwin.com.
Chiefs then issued a statement that Nabi was currently not with the team, while not confirming he has officially left the club.
Amid all this chaos, it is perhaps not surprising Chiefs were poor in Luanda. Then again, they have coped well without Nabi previously.
Defensive mistake
This was the first time the Kaze-Ben Youssef combination has lost a match. They had previously won all five games when Nabi was not present, winning two when he was suspended last season, and another three when Nabi had to go back to Tunisia at the start of this season, after his wife was involved in a serious road accident.
Kaze, meanwhile, said Chiefs had tried to plan for the kind of goal they conceded on Saturday. Afonso Mafuta crossed from the left wing, and Julio rose unmarked to head past Brandon Petersen.
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“Those kind of situations we spoke about, we didn’t want the opponent getting into positions where they could cross, or where we gave away fouls cheaply around the box,” he said.