After Kaizer Chiefs booked their spot in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinals, head coach Nasreddine Nabi has discussed whether his troops are ready to end their trophy drought.
Amakhosi went through to the quarter-finals of the tournament after thrashing Chippa United 3-0 on Saturday, thanks to goals by Gaston Sirino, Inacio Miguel, and Pule Mmodi.
The Nedbank Cup presents the side with their last realistic chance this season to win a first piece of silverware in a decade.
Nabi did not want to commit on whether his charges, with the signings of Makabi Lilepo, Tashreeq Morris, and Thabo Cele, are ready to go all the way.
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"I would say we still have a lot of work to do, a long road to go to. It's not like a false modesty, but we don't believe we're even half the team we dream of for Kaizer Chiefs," Nabi said in his post-match press conference at FNB Stadium.
"But the biggest certainty is that we're in the right direction, the players understand what they need to do and we feel that they are coming together."
The Tunisian-Belgian also explained where they need to improve to become a more consistent and complete team.
"I wouldn't say this is the best game since the beginning of the season, because we felt that at some point, especially the last 20, 25 minutes of the first half, we didn't have control of the game.
"We let Chippa come to us with long balls and we knew they are going to use the long balls and things like that. But we believe if we can improve on those little things and have the control of the game for the whole 90 minutes and plus, when we're gonna be the team that decides the tempo of the game, if we need to accelerate, if we need to put down the tempo, then that will be a consistent team.
"But we believe we're in the right way," the former AS FAR Rabat coach said, through his translator and assistant coach Cedric Kaze.
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Amakhosi appeared to be overconfident during the Nedbank Cup semi-finals draw in 2023 after some members of the technical team, along with some players and officials, were seen celebrating drawing Orlando Pirates.
However, the went on to be eliminated by their Soweto rivals in extra time.
The quarterfinals draw will be conducted on Monday (18:00).