Wandile Duba can be main man for Kaizer Chiefs – Nasreddine Nabi

His comments come in the wake of the 20-year-old scoring in the Nedbank Cup semi-final win against Mamelodi Sundowns at the weekend and take home the Man of the Match award.

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Duba equalised for Chiefs at Loftus before substitute Ashley Du Preez grabbed the decisive goal in the dying minutes of the clash to help guide the Soweto giants to their first domestic cup final since 2019.

Nabi, speaking through assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef, says Duba, who has scored six goals in 21 games, can be the club’s main man upfront.

''Regarding Duba, I think he has a lot of quality, physical quality and technical quality. The one thing we work on with Duba is the mental problem. You know young players when they have to face a huge fan base like the one of Kaizer Chiefs, they turn not to have the mental capacity for that - but that is what we are working on with him. Last season he had a lot of progression to make. He can make it if he gives us a solution as the first or second striker next season,'' said Nabi.

Chiefs return to action on Saturday away to Chippa United in the Betway Premiership, where Duba will again be expected to have an impact.

But Nabi did raise concerns about injuries with several key players carrying knocks in the victory over Sundowns.

''Maybe before the game we didn't talk much about injured players. But it is the time to state before the next match - we lost Miguel, then it was Dove. Dove played with an injury today and Zitha was on the bench due to injury. All of them played with injuries,'' added Nabi.

Meanwhile, Sundowns are hoping to bounce back in the CAF Champions League when they host Al Ahly in the first leg of their semi-finals on Saturday.

There will be VAR this time, which coach Miguel Cardoso insists is the only way to improve the level of officiating in the PSL.

''The past comes from yesterday, we don't have to go forward. We have to move forward intentionally. It is tough to win everything, obviously we wanted to take the last step in the competition, and we should be there because we have the quality for that. Maybe our sponsor in the future can prove VAR, so that there is fair game, it is important at this stage of the competition. Right now what do I say to my players, that we lost because of a big mistake? I had nothing to say when the fourth official gave an offside to Peter,'' said Cardoso.

Asked if the expectation was for Downs to now go on and retain the Betway Premiership and clinch the Champions League, the Portuguese born mentor dismissed the notion that he was under “pressure”.