Chippa United captain Stanley Nwabali insists the club is not pressing any panic buttons yet, despite struggling at the bottom of the Betway Premiership.
Things aren’t going well for the Chilli Boys; they have already parted ways with three coaches this season.
Sinethemba Badela stepped down due to disagreements with sporting director Sinesipho Mali earlier in the campaign.
Musa Nyatama, who was only in charge for a few matches, was fired before Luc Eymael took over in August, but things didn’t improve, and he was also released by the club. Now Vusumuzi Vilakazi is in charge, and he hopes to change the club’s fortunes.
“You know, I’m the captain, and what we’re experiencing is something that happens in football; it’s not something that has never happened before,” Nwabali said.
“Sometimes, in a season, you start badly; sometimes, you start well. I feel like this campaign has not been good for the team, but I’m giving the fans hope we will get better.”
The Chilli Boys have two tough matches against Soweto giants Orlando Pirates (November 25) and Kaizer Chiefs (December 3) before the the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) recess.
Nwabali is currently with the Nigeria national team as they prepare for the 2026 Fifa World Cup playoffs in a mini tournament in Rabat, Morocco. They will face Gabon in the semifinal today, and the winner will take on either Cameroon or DR Congo in Sunday’s final.
The keeper said the team will have to use this chance to try to book a place in the World Cup after finishing second in their Group C qualifiers. “We feel it’s a real second chance for us coming into these World Cup qualifiers,” he said.
“Talking about our game against Benin, I felt like we passed maybe one, two, or three games without picking up a lot of points we wanted. But towards the end of the World Cup qualifiers, we started getting ourselves familiar with how the team is going to play and shape how we are going to build. But I feel like these playoffs are also going to be good for the upcoming Afcon.”
Sowetan
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