Kaizer Chiefs legend Itumeleng Khune has advised his former side to take the Nedbank Cup as an opportunity to turn around their poor season.
Chiefs are enduring another season of struggle as they lie ninth on the PSL table with inconsistencies preventing them from competing for the top spots but they have a chance to end their 10-year trophy drought when they host bitter rivals Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final on May 10.
That will come after this Saturday’s Soweto Derby but Khune, who spent all his career at Chiefs, feels winning the Nedbank Cup can be the catalyst for the remaining games of the season as it will boost their confidence.
How can Amakhosi salvage their season?
“The only way to salvage a season is for them to be motivated that they are still competing in the Nedbank Cup,” Khune told iDiski Times.
“Kaizer Chiefs should take it as a confidence booster ahead of this game [Soweto Derby]. And by them going to the final, the confidence in the league will be up, and once the confidence is up, they will move up the table.”
Khune feels Amakhosi have plenty to learn from Stellenbosch’s run to the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final in their first season as well as Magesi’s win in the Carling Knockout, when they claimed the trophy in their maiden PSL campaign.
Chiefs must learn from Stellies & Magesi
“And once they lose or win the final, they stand a chance of competing in the continental competition. Teams should be motivated now to compete in continental football, seeing what Stellies is doing. Any team can do it,” added the former Chiefs goalkeeper.
“I mean Magesi was promoted last season, they won their first trophy and Magesi is three years, four years old but already they wanted to introduce themselves to say, ‘Hey, we are now in the PSL’.
“They took the same confidence into the league where they’d been doing badly, now they are starting to pick up with, of course, the experience of coach Owen Da Gama helping them to go up the log.”
Chiefs are under pressure to deliver in Saturday’s Soweto Derby as they head into the match having failed to win any of their last six league games and it will also serve as a confidence booster before the Nedbank Cup final a week later.
