Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi is under no pressure to win Nedbank Cup. | Photo: Itumeleng English Independent Media
Image: Itumeleng English Independent Media
Kaizer Chiefs’ coach Nasreddine Nabi says he is ‘not under pressure’ to end their 10-year trophy drought, as there is a bigger focus: completing the process.
Chiefs will face Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld in Hatfield, Pretoria, on Sunday evening (6pm kick-off). This is the team’s final chance to win silverware this season and end a barren run that has seen them fall from grace over the past decade.
And while the Brazilians have already beaten Chiefs in three successive matches across all competitions this season, it is often said that football is fickle at the top. As such, Chiefs’ fans will head to Loftus hoping they can finally end Sundowns’ dominance this season and move closer to their first trophy since the 2014/15 campaign.
Nonetheless, the man expected to be the messiah and lead them to the promised land remains measured in his expectations.
“You said there’ll be pressure if we lose, but I can tell you there’s no pressure. Every game that we play, there’s pleasure,” said Nabi, in his pre-match press conference yesterday.
“In the first year of our process, we are here to build our team. But when we get an opportunity to be in the semi-final and win a trophy, we’ll try to play and win.
“We want to win this trophy because it’s for the fans, the board and the team. We play to win the trophy because we are a big team — Kaizer Chiefs.
“In each and every competition that you play, you have to aim to win. But like I said, there’s no pressure inside — we are working within our process.”
Some Chiefs fans feel Nabi is starting to sound like a broken record — hence their belief that the board should release him before the situation worsens and the team finishes outside the top eight. But that does not appear likely, as the Chiefs board seem to have a mutual understanding with the coach and support his long-term plans.
Nabi’s sentiments were seemingly backed by a viral video of club manager Bobby Motaung, in which he declared that Nabi is going nowhere — for now.
“When we discussed things with the board, we said we are in a three-to-four-year process to build our team,” said Nabi. “But after these three years, then we’ll build our team so that we can compete for the African Cup, the league and the domestic competitions.
“If we win this trophy, that will be amazing for us and it will give us more confidence — for the board, the team, the supporters, and us as the technical staff. But if we don’t win this trophy, then we have to continue to work.”
Nabi believes that shifting focus to short-term victories now — rather than sticking to the rebuilding phase — could undermine the foundation they have laid.
“When some teams try to make the process work, you start mapping out your targets,” Nabi explained.
“When you try to build the team and then change direction, saying ‘no, I am not building but trying to win this cup’, then when you lose, you undo everything and have to restart. When you start a business or anything, you have to go step-by-step. Our first process is to build the team now.
“If you compare us with Orlando (Pirates) and (Mamelodi) Sundowns — how many times they’ve had to build their teams — you’ll see we are on the right track. We just have to keep our team and stay on the same road.”