Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has warned his players that they need to focus on their DStv Premiership match against Swallows on Monday and not get distracted by the upcoming Soweto Derby in the Nedbank Cup semi-final.
Amakhosi enter the game on the back of their 1-0 win at Chippa United on Thursday and return to action the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Monday.
With many of the club’s supporters already talking about Chiefs’ second-next match, at FNB Stadium against Orlando Pirates, Zwane insisted his players first need to focus on the Dube Birds.
“It’s something key from our side as a technical team is how we manage the players [mindset with the Soweto Derby looming],” he said.
“Fortunately, some of us played in this game as we know how important it is to focus on collecting points before the derby.
“Sometimes the derby can make you forget about what’s important, so as I said earlier on it’s important for us to take one game at a time and focus on this one [Swallows], and after the Monday game on Monday, we focus on Pirates.
“It’s difficult because people are already talking about the derby, especially after a [win like this], people are already thinking Pirates, not even Swallows.
“It gets to players ears and they start thinking about the derby, we need to manage it. I think we have an advantage to help the players having been there ourselves [when we were players].”
Zwane also insisted if his side approach the game like they did the Chippa game, they will collect three points in their push for the CAF inter-club competitions spots.
“Once more, a difficult one to play, you know, we’re playing against a team that’s also fighting for their lives and they are not going to make it easy for us, they are not going to give us [three points],” Zwane said about the Swallows game.
“We’re going to have to give a performance like [against Chippa], give our best like we did [against Chippa] and if we approach the game with the same mentality and mindset, I see now problem in us getting maximum points.”
Chiefs enter the game in fourth place with 44 points and anything but a win over the Dube Birds would likely end their push for the CAF Champions League spot, with Pirates sitting five points ahead of them on the log and just three matches left to play.
