Africa-Press – South-Africa. Nasreddine Nabi’s post-match press conference after Kaizer Chiefs lost another preseason game lasted a little more than 15 minutes, but it was dominated by one question which he sought to answer via a translator, then offered his broken English in an attempt at a clearer explanation.
Chiefs’ 2-3 penalty shoot-out defeat against Ghana’s Asante Kotoko in the annual Toyota Cup at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday was their fifth loss in six friendlies this preseason.
To be fair to Nabi, it was largely an unmerited loss, with Amakhosi spurning a chance to win it with five minutes to go when Inácio Miguel sent his penalty wide and then Pule Mmodi’s effort being saved when a conversion would have guaranteed victory in the shoot-out.
But as his inquisitors reminded him in that presser, Saturday’s result was another defeat, which doesn’t seem to bode well for Chiefs’ prospects when they kick off the new season next weekend.
“Results in friendly matches do not matter,” Nabi retorted, emphasising he was satisfied with his players’ overall showing and general interplay. “Compared with last season we have improved, though there are areas we need to work on.”
The Tunisian said Chiefs’ four defeats in five preseason games on the recent Netherlands tour could not be counted as meaningful as their hefty training programme at times included two sessions a day, followed by a match the next day.
“Objectives of friendlies are clear for everyone,” Nabi said as he switched to English, deciding not to use the services of assistant Cedric Kaze who usually translates the coach’s French.
“I will give you an example: one of the friendlies we played against a lower-division team and we changed the whole team.
“I’m sorry, [since when] do we discuss preseason results? I know you, the media, want to say, ‘You lose, you lose’, but the objective of a friendly is not really to win after 90 minutes.”
Perhaps Nabi is right. As he enters his second Betway Premiership season, which Chiefs get under way against Stellenbosch FC on August 9, he will be judged on how coherent the team have become and there were signs he was getting certain things right on Saturday.
New fullbacks Thabiso Monyane and Nkanyiso Shinga manned the flanks authoritatively, but finishing remains a concern as Chiefs struggled to penetrate Kotoko’s defence.
Ultimately, Saturday was just another day where Chiefs failed to win, though the result did not quite matter as Nabi highlighted several times.
But that failure to win matches already cost them dearly last season and as a result they missed out on the top eight that kicks off this weekend. That was mainly because Nabi’s men could not win any of their last 10 league — not friendly — matches.
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