Chiefs ready for the thrilling CAF Confederation Cup group stages challenge

Chiefs reached the lucrative phase of the tournament yesterday, after brushing aside the Democratic Republic of Congo’s AS Simba 3-1 at the Dobsonville Stadium. 

Goals from Etiosa Ighodaro, Zitha Kwinika, and Glody Lilepo ensured that Amakhosi will go into the hat when the draw is conducted in Johannesburg next Monday. 

With teams like Wydad Casablanca, Zamalek, USM Alger, CR Belouizdad, Stellenbosch FC and Azam FC in the mix, Kaze can’t wait.

"Actually, I believe that I was checking the teams in the CAF Confederation, those are serious clients. There's Zamalek, Wydad, Belouzdad, such good teams. We are happy to go there and compete and it's true that those kind of games add experience to the players and they add belief to the players that they can make things happen,” Kaze said.

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Playing in only his second game for Chiefs, Ighodaro made an effective introduction to the Amakhosi faithful, not just by scoring but also through his overall contribution. 

He also got his brace yesterday, as he also hit the woodwork in the second half, and Kaze says he’s the type of striker they’ve been missing.

"Sometimes, I believe that it's not easy to find that kind of striker, he's a scorer and is a player that can help as well because you know sometimes you are struggling, you are defending deep down and he's a player that when there is a rebound or we play forward he's that player that can hold the ball, allow the whole team to come up,” the coach added. 

“It gives you energy, it allows every player to get in his right position going forward and I would say that we have missed that a lot because sometimes the ball goes forward and we lose it very quickly then we have to come back and it's like a game of transition but to have that kind of striker, it's very helpful."

In this game, Chiefs introduced two more debutants in Lebohang Maboe and Asanele Velebhayi. 

This now leaves only Ethan Chislett, Nkanyiso Shinga and Luke Baartman as the three new arrivals who are yet to make their debuts.