Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze chalked up Saturday’s catastrophic 2-1 loss to Egyptian side Zamalek in their last Caf Confederation Cup Group D fixture at Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Ismailia, Egypt, to “wrong attitude”, saying they unnecessarily gave the Egyptians too much respect.
Chiefs headed into this fixture top of the table, needing at least a draw to qualify for the knockout phase, but second-half goals courtesy of Juan Alvina Bezerra and Abdallah El Said were enough to shatter the Soweto giants’ dream of advancing to the next round. Glody Lilepo netted Amakhosi’s consolation.
“First, I’d say it’s a big disappointment for us. We invested a lot of time and effort in this competition, and we tried everything we could, but I believe today [Saturday] we didn’t get in the game with the right attitude and the right mentality,” Kaze, who co-coaches the side with Khalil Ben Youssef, said.
“I feel like we respected Zamalek a lot; we gave them time and space to play, especially in the first half, even though [the first half] ended 0-0, but we respected them a lot.”
Chiefs now have only the league title to fight for this season, having been eliminated from the Carling Knockout and the Nedbank Cup, both in the first round by Stellenbosch FC, before Saturday’s clash against Zamalek.
“It [failing to qualify for the Confederation Cup knockout phase] is a big disappointment for us, but that’s football; we need to take lessons from this and move on,” the Amakhosi co-coach noted.
Amakhosi are third on the domestic log standings, eight points behind leaders Orlando Pirates, who’ve played a game more than them. Chiefs’ next game is away to Siwelele on Wednesday (7.30pm).
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