Asante Kotoko coach Abdul-Karim Zito has praised Kaizer Chiefs and South African football, terming it ‘European standard.”
Chiefs and Kotoko played out a goalless draw in their Toyota Cup on Saturday but the Ghana giants won 3-2 on post-match penalties to take the bragging rights.
Reacting to his team’s win, Zito said he was just lucky to be on the winning side, while commending Chiefs for displaying great football that not many teams in Africa can manage.
“I have to be honest, seriously, South Africans play like Europeans, not like the other countries [in Africa], they don’t chase you, they let you chase them. I know it, because I have studied this when I went to Europe, I’m in development, professionally,” Zito told SABC.
Kotoko coach thankful luck was on his side
“So Chiefs didn’t play badly, but the luck was on our side… at the end of the day, the element of luck wasn’t there for them, we were lucky to win. But everyone wants to be lucky – I’m very happy, because tactically we worked on our plan and it worked.”
Both sides had opportunities but did not find the target with Chiefs restricted by their visitors who went on to edge them out in a tight shootout.
Former Dreams FC and Ghana U20 national team coach Zito says he had analysed Chiefs very well before facing them and was happy that most of the things they worked on came off well.
It was the final pre-season match for Chiefs, who have now only won one of their six build-up games ahead of the 2025-26 season, and will intensify their preparations in the next two weeks before their season opener against Stellenbosch FC on August 10.
