Posted in News, Team News on Feb 23, 2024.
After coming off a goalless draw against Royal AM in their first DStv Premiership match of 2024, Amakhosi face a tricky Nedbank Cup last 32 tie against NFD side, Milford FC on Sunday.
Despite missing out on the victory their dominance over Thwihli Thwahla last weekend deserved, defender, Given Msimango, is confident of a better showing this time around.
“Personally, I feel good. My fitness levels are where they need to be for me to perform for the Club. I think I can also speak for my teammates in that we have been training very well, and working hard. Unfortunately, the result didn’t go the way we wanted against Royal AM, but it is not something to linger on. We have seen where we can improve and made our corrections, so Milford will be another challenge for us to rectify our mistakes and win the game,” the tough-tackling centre-back tells www.kaizerchiefs.com.
The romance of cup football lies in the possibility of a massive upset when teams that, on paper are mismatched get drawn to play each other on the pitch. As perennial favourites, Amakhosi have suffered the ignominy of such giant-killing acts in the past, a fate Msimango is determined to prevent.
“You worry about every opponent because each one proves to be a challenge in their own aspect. When you look back through the Nedbank Cup, lower division teams have a history of doing well against higher division teams, because the motivation is different and the mentality is different when playing a team of Chiefs’ calibre,” he says before assuring fans that, ”at the same time, as Kaizer Chiefs, our mentality is elite and needs to be elite at all times irrespective of the opponent. We give all opponents the respect they deserve. We have watched them and analysed them. We know they are a good side with quality players, so we are preparing accordingly to avoid an upset and advance to the next round.”
The Nedbank Cup remains an avenue open to Amakhosi to end their wait for a major trophy, which is something Msimango intends to put right as soon as possible.
“Our supporters know all too well that it has been a long time since the Club has won silverware. I don’t want to sound like a broken record telling them it is a process and they must be patient, which in all honesty is true, but as players we try to focus on the controllable, which is to focus on your game and giving the best performance possible to entertain the fans, because that is what they expect from Kaizer Chiefs. We want to win every match we play and thereby get the rewards our supporters deserve,” he concludes.
Tickets for the match are on sale through TicketPro online at www.ticketpros.co.za or Boxer Supermarkets, PostNet, Shell and Sasol filling stations at R40 per ticket.
