Nabi Remains Optimistic Despite Pre-Season Losses
Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi believes his team is “heading in the right direction,” even though their pre-season results haven’t gone their way.
The Amakhosi have had a challenging pre-season, losing five of their six matches, including four of the five games played in the Netherlands.
Their latest defeat came in the Toyota Cup on Saturday, where they lost on penalties to Ghanaian side Asante Kotoko at Moses Mabhida Stadium. This marks the second consecutive season Chiefs have lost the Toyota Cup, having been heavily defeated 4-0 by Young Africans in the inaugural edition last year.
Building for the New Season
While Nabi has downplayed the significance of these pre-season friendly results, emphasizing that winning is secondary to building combinations, some concerns remain.
Pre-season is often seen as a period to cultivate a winning mentality, which Chiefs, who ended a 10-year trophy drought by winning the Nedbank Cup last season under Nabi, seem to be lacking in their current form. This is a cause for concern ahead of the 2025/26 season kick-off.
“It is true that it is the second Toyota Cup we have played [and lost], but we believe that from last season to now, the team has improved,” said Nabi.
“Although there are some areas that we need to work on more. Against Kotoko, it was a friendly game, and we would have loved to win it, and we did everything to win it; unfortunately, we didn’t. But we believe that we are in the right direction going forward to the league.”
A further concern for fans is the team’s low scoring rate, with Chiefs netting only three goals while conceding six across their pre-season fixtures. However, Nabi strongly reiterated that pre-season is about building combinations, not winning matches. He highlighted that the team has two extra weeks to fine-tune before the serious business of the league begins.
Coach’s Assessment and Plan
“I’m very satisfied with what I saw in the game [against Kotoko]. It allowed us to see where we are right now,” Nabi added. “It’s true that we would have liked to finish off the game and make the supporters happy as well. We feel that the players made a lot of effort to win the game, but unfortunately, we didn’t make it. We could have won the match in the last 10 minutes of the game, but [Inacio Miguel missed the penalty].”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t, and that’s how it is,” he concluded. “In general, I’m satisfied with the performance, and we have two weeks left before the first game. We’re going to take advantage of those two weeks to improve what has not been positive enough and to coach more on what has been positive.”
