Kaizer Chiefs’ assistant coach Cedric Kaze believes his side are close to where they want to be despite struggling to produce positive results in recent games.
Since beating Golden Arrows 1-0 at the end of August, they have lost one and drawn two of their last three Premier League matches, though they managed a win on penalties over Kabuscorp of Angola in the two legs of the Caf Confederation Cup.
“I think from Wednesday’s game [against AmaZulu, which ended in a 1-1 draw] those players deserve praise,” Kaze said as his charges prepared for a trip to Cape Town where they will play Stellenbosch FC in the last 16 of the Carling Knockout Cup on Sunday.
“We made 22 shots, eight on target, 510 passes and had 70% of possession. We haven’t seen that in a Kaizer Chiefs team for the past maybe four years.
‘Those players deserve praise’
“Looking at those stats, I would say we have seen the same stats from Mamelodi Sundowns like two years ago. Those players deserve praise.”
That belief gives Kaze a lot of confidence they will get another good result away to Stellenbosch, a team whom Chiefs beat twice in the league last season and have already beaten them in Cape Town this season.
Amakhosi did dominate against AmaZulu but there were two incidents in which they should have scored but let themselves down, including a missed penalty by winger Glody Lilepo.
However, it was an incident involving striker Khanyisa Mayo that caught most people’s attention. Pule Mmodi had lobbed AmaZulu keeper Darren Johnson, but with the ball destined for the net a clearly offside Mayo saw fit to poke it in from less than a yard out.
Kaze was quick to defend Mayo though. “Those kinds of things happen but everyone was not happy, starting with Mayo,” he said. “It was an unfortunate situation that cost us two points.”
Since beating Stellies 2-0 in the opening league fixture, Chiefs have not scored more than a goal in any other match, but Kaze said they’re all working hard to improve on that.
“In the last two games, I would say the final passes have been there, the movement is there but it’s the last action of scoring and keepers making saves. I believe if we keep the momentum, keep our focus, I’m sure that goals are going to come very soon.”
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