Doctor Backs Chiefs Co-Coaches Amid Strong Progress
Doctor Khumalo has thrown his full support behind Kaizer Chiefs co-coaches Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef, praising their impact and urging Amakhosi supporters to rally behind the technical team during a demanding season.
Kaze and Ben Youssef initially arrived at Naturena as assistants to Nasreddine Nabi at the start of the 2024/25 campaign and played a crucial role in helping Amakhosi end their decade-long trophy drought by lifting the Nedbank Cup last season.
Following Nabi’s departure earlier in the current campaign, the Burundian and Tunisian mentors were promoted to a co-coaching role.
While Chiefs were knocked out of the Carling Knockout and failed to defend their Nedbank Cup crown, they have shown remarkable improvement in the Betway Premiership and the CAF Confederation Cup.
The Phefeni Glamour Boys are currently third in the league with 30 points after 15 matches – a significant rise from last season when they finished ninth with the same number of points after the entire campaign.
In the Confederation Cup, Amakhosi sit at the top of Group D with 10 points and need only a draw in their final group match against Egyptian giants Zamalek on Sunday to secure a quarterfinal place.
Reflecting on the current technical setup, Khumalo revealed that the duo is doing well, but they need support from everyone involved at Chiefs, even fans as well.
“We once had co-coaching, myself alongside Ace Khuse,” Khumalo said.
“But now we’re talking about a different generation and times, and the game has changed. But I would not want to be negative and say the current coaches are not delivering good things.
“If they would take Chiefs to the top four of the log, where by the past four or six seasons, we would have a problem of getting to the top eight. I think that’s a lot of achievement, and where they’re now, we’re talking about achievement in the CAF Confederation Cup.
“So, I don’t look at negatives, but I look at positive things on what they’re bringing out there.
“I think they’re facing a problem that no coach has faced, and they don’t have time to fix some problems tactically, and there’s nothing they could do because they play two days in between, and that’s not an excuse from me.
“But I think they will try until the end of the season, and I think at the moment they deserve support from everybody who wants to see Kaizer Chiefs winning games.”
Looking ahead to the decisive clash in Egypt, Khumalo warned that Chiefs face a stern test but believes the players must take responsibility for the position they have earned.
“I have watched Zamalek when they played in Polokwane against Chiefs, they’re a very good team and well organised with good players,” Khumalo added.
“It is going to be a difficult game, especially since they will be playing in Egypt, and Zamalek also wants to qualify for the quarterfinal, and they won this tournament before.
“You know very well that teams from Egypt, Morocco, and probably Tunisia don’t want to lose, and I don’t think they would want to go to the knockout with Kaizer Chiefs.
“With Kaizer Chiefs about the games they played, people had a problem saying they’re winning 1-0, and everybody talks about strikers that are not doing well.
“The game has changed now, and even the defenders can score, but in Egypt, I would like to send a message to the boys that they’re the ones who took the club there, so they need to maintain that.”
Chiefs are chasing their first CAF knockout appearance since the 2020/21 season, when they reached the CAF Champions League final before losing to Al Ahly, then coached by Pitso Mosimane.
