Nasreddine Nabi will be up against the history of new coaches at Kaizer Chiefs suffering embarrassing cup defeats in their first season at the club against Mamelodi Sundowns, ahead of the Carling Knockout quarter-final showdown.
After the Carling Knockout quarter-final draw on Sunday pitted Chiefs against Sundowns, the encounter has been billed a 'revenge' game after the latter won the Betway Premiership clash between the sides last month under controversial circumstances.
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The Glamour Boys already faced the prospect of meeting their rivals, Masandawana and Orlando Pirates, who were eliminated, early, after, unlike in seasons where they finished inside the Top Eight, being one of the unseeded teams in the round of 16 and quarter-finals draws.
They had their worst finish in the PSL era in 2023/24- 10th.
It is quite interesting that in all the previous cup matches against Sundowns at least from 2012, Amakhosi came up against the Tshwane giants with a new coach at the helm and went on to lose all those.
In September last year, they were drawn against the men clad in Blue and Yellow in the MTN8 semi-finals under new coach Molefi Ntseki and although the first leg was tied 1-1, they lost the second leg 2-1 and were eliminated 3-2 on aggregate.
Scrolling down the cup history between the sides, Chiefs also met The Brazilians in the MTN8 quarter-finals in August 2021 with Stuart Baxter having just assumed duties in his second spell and after a 2-2 draw in extra-time, the Soweto giants were knocked out on penalties.
Prior to those clashes, new head coaches at Naturena had embarrassing losses up against Sundowns early in their reigns, after Amakhosi were thrashed 3-1 in the Telkom Knockout final in December 2015, a few months after appointing Steve Komphela.
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The side also had their blushes in Baxter's first official game in charge against the men from Chloorkop in August 2012 in the MTN8 quarter-finals, where they were hammered 4-1.
The last time the Glamour Boys beat Sundowns in a cup game was way back in 2010, where they won 1-0 in the Telkom Knockout quarter-finals and went on to claim the trophy.