Nasreddine Nabi hopes cup victory buys him more time at Chiefs

Amakhosi beat their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates 2-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium to clinch the trophy and finally end a decade long trophy drought. 

Chiefs took the lead through Gaston Sirino’s penalty before it was cancelled out by Evidence Makgopa minutes later. 

Yusuf Maart then found the winner late in the game to secure victory for Chiefs, with Nabi hopeful that it buys him more time at the club. 

"My first objective for the club is to place Kaizer Chiefs back in its natural position. I'm happy for this trophy because it is going to help me continue my process, and it is going to give the fans a lot more confidence in this project," said the Tunisian tactician. 

READ: Kaizer Chiefs end decade-long trophy drought with thrilling Nedbank Cup victory

There remain questions over Nabi’s future, particularly with Chiefs in danger of missing out on the top eight. 

Nabi, now speaking through translation, adds that Orlando Pirates, who’ve won five cups in three years under Jose Riveiro, had to start somewhere. 

"Orlando Pirates understood how important it is to build your team. If you looked at how they played today and how they played last season, you would realise that they are a completely different team. 

"That means, sometimes, you don't want to get things right away, you need to give time to rebuild and to allow yourself to suffer and to rebuild to be better," explained Nabi.

It won’t matter much over the years, but Nabi did acknowledge the cup final was a tough watch as it was a slightly cagey affair. 

The Tunisian also felt strongly that the substitutions he made, including bringing on Mduduzi Shabalala, were game-changing.

"We started well in the second half, but we believe that the changes we made with Mthetwa, du Preez, and Shabalala gave us more energy and more balance to get back into the game, and to establish more control in the game.

"It's been a tough ten years, and you could see that everyone wanted to win it so bad," concluded a satisfied Nasreddine Nabi.