Big win gives Nabi and Chiefs a shot in the arm

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi will sincerely hope Sunday was the turning point.

Chiefs’ management will hope that changing course now, having invested so much in 59-year-old Nabi and his technical staff, as the means to turning around nine seasons without silverware would be an exhausting, expensive and exasperating exercise.

To be fair to any coach arriving at Naturena in the past half-decade, such a mission has not been easy. The club has made many mistakes, hiring and firing coaches seemingly without a clear plan of what was needed. Nabi has done nowhere near enough to suggest he is the extraordinary coach who can succeed where others failed since his arrival ahead of the season.

There was a bright, but briefly so, start, then Chiefs lost their way. Around mid-September to December they appeared to be finding it again, losing two games in 10. Ahead of Sunday’s Nedbank Cup semifinal against Mamelodi Sundowns it seemed things might have taken a downturn to the extent Chiefs’ management might battle to justify continuing with Nabi next campaign.

Chiefs had not won in four Premiership matches, with two wins out of their past 10, to be stuck in eighth place for weeks. Downs were competing at a higher level, reaching the Caf Champions league semifinals with an impressive quarterfinal win.

It is remarkable what one match can do to bring about what seems a real shot in the arm. Amakhosi supporters should also know they should not get carried away by one big win.

However, Chiefs’ stirring 2-1 semifinal win against Downs just might be the tonic to restore what seemed to be a rebuilding project going off the rails under Nabi.

It brought a first domestic cup final in six years since the Nedbank shock under Middendorp to then-first division TS Galaxy at the end of the 2018-19 campaign. A huge-profile Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates awaits in the May 10 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium. That means, for all the misery in 2024-25, Chiefs will remain in the hunt for a trophy until the last day.

Given Nabi has reminded at every turn this campaign is for rebuilding, competing at such a late stage for a trophy seems a reasonable achievement. That especially given how long it has been since Chiefs have reached that stage. And the coach has repeatedly stated in recent weeks qualifying for the Confed was his other remaining aim this season.

After beating Sundowns at the fourth attempt after three defeats, Nabi was not about to change his tune on 2024-25 being “part of the process”.

“On the number of times Sundowns beat this team, we are under a process, we are starting to build this team — Sundowns are one of the biggest teams in Africa,” he said.

“Looking at how Sundowns started, except for [Bathusi] Aubaas coming in for [Jayden] Adams, it was their first team. In five days they have a [Champions League] semifinal against Al Ahly — they showed how much they respect us that they [picked their best team and] came to win.”

It wasn’t just a big win against Downs that got Chiefs to the Nedbank final. They beat third tier Free Agents 4-0 in the last 32 in January — previous Amakhosi combinations slipped in such matches, earning the club a reputation for being susceptible to humblings by giant-killers. Chiefs saw off Chippa United 3-0 in the last 16 and tough Stellenbosch FC 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

Throw in the comeback win against Downs and four wins, 12 goals scored and two conceded make for a strong campaign from a side that has been unable to find consistency in the league.

Most of the season has, realistically, not offered enough from Nabi to inspire enthusiasm. The Nedbank bucks that trend.

It must surely have come partly due to pure determination. Once the other competitions fell by the wayside, and with the Nedbank the one tournament where Chiefs can avoid the ignominy of being the generation to usher in a decade without silverware, had to be a major motivator.