Nedbank Cup: No holders Chiefs, Sundowns or Pirates! ‘That’s where the problem starts’

The Nedbank Cup quarter finals are ongoing in South Africa with teams chasing the CAF Confederation Cup ticket.

Kaizer Chiefs‘ journey ended in the Round of 32, where they were undone by Stellenbosch, who are coached by Amakhosi’s former coach, Gavin Hunt. Orlando Pirates advanced to the Round of 16 before falling to second-tier outfit Casric Stars.

Interestingly, Mamelodi Sundowns were also undone by TS Galaxy who advanced to the last eight of the annual domestic competitions. AmaZulu are among the teams that are in the quarter-final where they will have to go past Casric Stars to make the semis.

Coach Arthur Zwane, who won the competition with Amakhosi in 2006, has now opened up on the absence of the top three.

Cup of dreams

“{Elimination of the big three] that is where the problem starts. The history of this cup is why they call it the Cup of Dreams; anyone can win it. It’s not about who we are playing against; that is what I told the players. I gave them an example from our game against Magesi in the league two days ago, if I’m not mistaken,” he said in a presser.

“Most people probably thought we would get maximum points because if you look at the log and see where Magesi are [at the bottom] and where we are, it looks like an easy game. But it was not.

“We were playing against a team fighting for its life. Every point means a lot to them, and you could see when the referee blew the final whistle they celebrated as if they had won the match. For them, that point was important. Yes, we could have done better and we didn’t capitalise on our chances. We were not as sharp as we would have liked, and we were also trying to manage the players.

“We always say we want to compete and win trophies, and here is an opportunity for us. We will have to give it our all,” Zwane concluded.