KAIZER Chiefs’ new coach Nasreddine Nabi is looking forward to coming up against his former club Young Africans this afternoon, saying they’ll take the game seriously.
Chiefs and Africans will square off in the inaugural Toyota Cup at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein today (3pm kick-off).
Having pulled a sold-out crowd, the two teams are expected to repay the masses’ faith by delivering a mouth-watering contest, which will be legends of both Chiefs and Bloemfontein Celtic playing a curtain-raiser.
Sure, the two sides (Chiefs and Africans) had contrasting fortunes last season, with the Sowetans extending their barren run to nine seasons, while the Tanzanians won the title and FA Cup in domestic football.
A cloud of positivity has been hanging over Chiefs in the last few weeks though, as the club unveiled former Yanga coach Nabi as their new tactician.
The 58-year had a memorable stint with Yanga, winning two titles and two FA Cups with the team.
His successor Miguel Gamondi took this up a notch last season, defending the titles, while crashing out in the Champions League quarter-final after losing to Mamelodi Sundowns.
Nabi, though, has welcomed the opportunity to see some familiar faces at Yanga, insisting the game will test their character ahead of the new season.
“I am happy to reunite with my former players, staff and the office at Yanga,” said the Tunisian ahead of the two team’s meeting this afternoon.
“Yanga is a big team in Africa now. They had an extraordinary season last year – they did well in Africa and the league. We are going to the game to see if we can achieve what we are looking for. We’ll take the game seriously.”
Chiefs’ bosses have pulled out all stops to ensure that they are ready for the match and new season, including taking the team for a pre-season tour in Türkiye.
This was the first time Chiefs went for pre-season abroad in more than two decades, their last occasion being a trip to South Korea in 2003.
Nabi reserved special praise for the club’s sporting director who ensured that their trip to Europe was possible and a success.
“First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Kaizer Motaung Junior for accepting our request to travel to Türkiye, and have a pre-camp there,” Nabi said.
“It was very successful and important for us to go away from Johannesburg – and the pressure – especially after a very difficult end to the season in May. It was also important for the new staff and coaches to adjust with the players and get to know each other. It was successful.”
While Chiefs’ staff, the technical team and players got to know each other better, Nabi felt his troops were still behind in terms of readiness for the new season.
But with Chiefs only set to start their season in the newly-launched Betway Premiership in early September, they still have time to prepare.
The club’s marketing director and head of commercial, Jessica Motaung, confirmed to the media during their jersey launch last Thursday that they’ll hold another camp in Botswana.
Nabi, who would have probably loved to compete for the MTN8 which starts on August 3, has welcomed the additional time to prepare his team for the league.
“We played a few games against several teams in Türkiye. The games were not to my expectations, or what I wanted,” Nabi explained.
“But as of this month, pace will pick up and it will be to what I want from the players out there on the field of play.”