Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi expressed his disappointment after his team settled for a 2-2 draw against AmaZulu at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday, feeling they deserved to win.
Nabi went on to criticise his team’s lack of finishing, saying: “It’s a game that we deserved to win, looking at all those opportunities that we got. Although the opponent had some opportunities, we had a lot of opportunities to win this game. We feel that we deserve to win it.”
The match marked the first time Arthur Zwane, AmaZulu’s co-coach, faced his former club. Kaizer Chiefs capitalized on a series of AmaZulu mistakes, though their pressure played a role in the goals. Richard Ofori, the AmaZulu goalkeeper, had a difficult performance, particularly on Chiefs’ second goal.
Chiefs gave first starts to new signings Glody Lilepo, Tashreeq Morris, and Thabo Cele. Coach Nabi made a tactical substitution at halftime, bringing in Sibongiseni Mthethwa for Mduduzi Shabalala.
He reflected on the decision, “We felt we were a bit unbalanced, especially defensively. The front of our defense was not protected enough. We tried to correct that by bringing in Ox in the second half. We felt that we were in a better place in the second half.
Even in the last five minutes, we missed like two opportunities. We had a lot of opportunities to kill the game, but this is football, and we need to accept that and continue to work.”
This result leaves Kaizer Chiefs in fifth place in the league standings with 22 points from 16 matches, while AmaZulu sit in seventh with 20 points, also from 16 games.
Kaizer Chiefs will take on Stellenbosch FC in their next league appointment. Kick off at the Athlone Stadium is scheduled for 19:30 on Friday, 07 February.