Johannesburg — Kaizer Chiefs’ quest for the championship seems to be over and their focus now appears to be qualifying for African football next campaign.
After losing back-to-back league games at the start of 2023, Chiefs wanted to get their campaign back on track against log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday night.
But that wasn’t to be. The runaway champions tightened their grip at the top of the log by beating Chiefs 1-0 - thanks to a goal from Neo Maema.
This means that Chiefs now trail Downs by 22 points and coach Arthur Zwane singing a different hymn.
Instead of believing that Chiefs can close in on the leaders and take the title race down to the wire, Zwane says their focus is qualifying for next season’s continental tournaments.
“We really want to go and play in the (CAF) Champions League next season. I tasted it when I was part of the team as an assistant coach in 2021,” he said.
“I want to go back there. That will help our players to grow and know what it’s like to compete at that level, while some of them must help the country.
“And that makes it equally important for us to compete at this level. So we’ll push for a second spot, if we can’t get anything. And I think that’s realistic.”
Qualifying for the top African competition requires Chiefs to finish second on the log, but there are two ways they can play in the Confederation Cup.
They’ll have to finish third on the log or ensure that they win the Nedbank Cup, where they'll face Maritzburg United in the last-32 next month.
“The team hasn’t been winning cups for many, many years. And we’ll give our best in the Nedbank to ensure that we go all the way,” Zwane (49) explained.
Despite Chiefs’ terrible run of results since the start 2023, Zwane is not throwing his players under the bus.
“It’s not that they’ve been playing badly. They’ve been trying. The only thing that’s letting us down is not taking our chances as we get punished,” he said.
“But we won’t give up. We’ll go back to the drawing board, keep training and try to be clinical up front and shut the backdoor so that we don't concede.”
Chiefs have already started reinforcing their squad after announcing the signing of Christian Basomboli and Thatayone Ditlhokwe
Basomboli has already linked up with his new club on a three and a half year deal, while Ditlhokwe will officially join Chiefs in July on a four year contract.
Striker Basomboli is expected to help Chiefs with their scoring problems, while defender Ditlhokwe will want to help Chiefs close up shop at the back.
“We expect Christian to hit the ground running,” Zwane said. “But we don’t want to put him under pressure as other players can take the responsibility.”
IOL Sport