Chiefs’ Nabi dreaming of continental football after Stellies

In a bid to get Kaizer Chiefs back into the CAF football, Nasreddine Nabi is hoping his team can go all the way in the Nedbank Cup competition to secure qualification to the CAF Confederation Cup. 

Amakhosi are two games away from glory after the controversial 3-1 win over Stellenbosch FC in the quarterfinal of the season-ending competition at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

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Champions of the lucrative cup competition gain automatic entry into the secondary CAF inter-club competition. Another route into continental football would be for eight-placed Chiefs to at least finish in the top four on the Betway Premiership table.

“It’s true that we’re two games away from the trophy and the only thing we need to think about is the next game which is the semi-final because if we don’t pass through it, we can’t be close to the cup. It’s true that our ambition is to go all the way but we’re taking it game by game,” Nabi said.

“It’s also true that our mission is to go to the CAF Confederation Cup next season because it’s very important for a big club like Kaizer Chiefs to be in continental competition but we also have to do well in the for league as well because it can also give us the opportunity to go to CAF.”

Inacio Miguel gave Chiefs the lead in the first half before Andre de Jong equalised for Stellies with four minutes to play of regulation time. In injury time, Pule Mmodi and Mfundo Vilakazi punched Chiefs’ ticket to the last four of the competition where the winner will pocket a whopping R7 million.

“It’s true that after scoring, we played a little bit deeper but it’s understandable that when you’re playing a good team. Sometimes you can’t control the game for 90 minutes and the opponent is also taking risks to attack more. I feel like we were losing the ball too quickly and that’s why we couldn’t control the game more,” Nabi concluded.

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“It was a tough game against a good team and sometimes when you have the advantage, you need to defend it. Unfortunately, we conceded from a set-piece but we’re happy that we can advance.  It was a tough game in a cup game where there were a lot of emotions, changes in momentum and we’re happy to go through.”