Kaizer Chiefs ended their pre-season tour of the Netherlands with a loss following a 2-1 reverse against Eredivisie side FC Twente on Wednesday.
That was the fourth defeat in five pre-season matches for Amakhosi during their two-week stay in the Netherlands which left coach Nasredine Nabi with more to ponder.
Chiefs went down on the stroke of halftime when Dutch forward Daan Rots headed in after beating the defenders to the ball, a goal that left Nabi and his assistants visibly disappointed in the dugout.
That was after it looked like the contest was headed to a goalless draw in the first half after Chiefs had survived some early attacks.
Bas Kuipers had the ball in the net for Twente after 10 minutes but the goal was ruled out for an infringement in the build-up and Brandon Petersen was then made to make a fingertip save in the 27th minute.
Chiefs struggle but Miguel’s penalty revives hopes
Mfundo Vilakazi then cut inside but fired over the bar in the 37th minute and two minutes later, Petersen had to come out to punch away a dangerous aerial ball before the goal arrived for the Dutch side.
After the break, Nabi made a host of changes but it was Twente who attacked first when substitute Mitchell van Bergen drew a good save from Petersen.
By this time, Chiefs were struggling to string passes together, passing sideways and could not play through the lines but a rare foray forward yielded a penalty after a foul in the box.
Inacio Miguel stepped up to take the penalty but it was saved by the Twente goalkeeper. However, the Angolan defender reacted quickly to slot home the rebound for 1-1 in the 68th minute.
After the goal, Chiefs retreated and started playing deep into their own half but Glody Lilepo had a chance to score when he attempted from outside the box.
What lessons has Nabi learnt from Dutch tour?
However, Twente had the last laugh when poor defending from Chiefs allowed them to score the second goal five minutes from time.
Tunisia forward Sayfallah Ltaief latched onto a good pass from the right to hammer a low shot into the net to give Twente the second and winning goal.
It was the ninth goal conceded by Chiefs in five matches while they have scored just three, which will worry Nabi ahead of the new season.
The pre-season tour of the Netherlands exposed plenty of problems from Chiefs which suggest they are far from being ready for the 2025-26 season.
Chiefs started with a 2-1 loss to Vitesse, followed by a 4-0 defeat to Utrecht before NEC handed them 1-0 defeat and their only win was a 1-0 victory past PEC Zwolle on Tuesday.
