Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze said his side had no excuses for their Nedbank Cup exit on Wednesday, failing to start the game on the right foot and being forced to play catch-up.
They were 2-0 down to Stellenbosch inside the first half hour and although they pulled a goal back in the second half from Flavio Silva’s penalty, were bundled out at the first hurdle after winning last season.
“I think that we didn't enter the game well and we knew that we were playing a team that likes to play long balls and wins a lot of duels fighting for the second balls,” Kaze said afterwards.
“We didn't manage that well enough. We didn't win enough second balls, and it cost us in the first 20 minutes. I believe the goals were avoidable. But after conceding the two goals, we came back in the game. We missed a couple of opportunities, two, three good opportunities to score. In the second half, we came back with better intentions, better mentality.
“We tried our best. We scored in the first 10 minutes of the second half. We tried to push. I would say that it sounds like an unlucky day, but you know, it's a knockout game and unfortunately, we are out of the competition, but we have to look forward now because Sunday is coming very quickly with a massive game in the African Confederation Cup. We have to put our heads straight to have the right mentality to play, against Al Masry on Sunday.”
Chiefs must win against Al Masry in their penultimate Confederation Cup group game or face missing out on the knockout stages. The game is being played in Polokwane.
As a result, Kaze made six changes for the match against Stellenbosch but said fatigue meant they had to keep rotating players.
“It's not a good thing to get eliminated from the Nedbank because it's a cup that we love and we wanted to do everything to go all the way. But unfortunately, we are out and we have to focus on our next games, which are the Confederation Cup and the league.
“I don't want to find any excuse for the defeat, but it's very tough. I'm so proud of the players. They did everything they could, but in our situation, it's very tough to play every three days with the trips that we are doing, and sometimes, you know, the players are taking time to get into the game, although even before the game, we emphasise that we need to get straight into the game,” Kaze added.