Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane conceded that his team’s performance was not up to scratch against a lower-division side Casric Stars. Chiefs beat the Motsepe Foundation side 2-1 at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon in a Nedbank Cup last 16 tie.   

Despite their struggles, the Soweto giants managed to get to the quarterfinals stage. They took the lead thanks to a penalty, but they found it difficult to capitalize on their efforts until the Stars drew one back early in the second half, and two minutes later, Ashley Du Preez gave them the advantage again and sealed the triumph.  

Zwane addressed his team’s subpar performance in his post-game press conference.  

“If you watched today’s game, it is always difficult to play against teams that are coming from the first division because they play with more energy than the structure,” said Zwane.  

“You must have seen they caused some upset to other good teams in the PSL [topflight] and that tells you it’s difficult to plan for them.   

“Why? You don’t know how they are going to approach the game, unlike when you play against a team that is in PSL [as] you know their way of attacking and defending and what it is that they do best and profile their players.”

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Zwane added that mostly the players’ determination to attract teams in the DStv Premiership always plays a role in what they deliver on the field.   

“It’s not easy when you play against the lower-division team because they play with energy, they work twice as hard because some of them want to market themselves, they want to be in the PSL, and they also want to compete at that level.   

“They believe they are good enough to play at that level, when given the opportunity they want to showcase their talent and that makes life difficult for PSL teams especially if you’re going to take them for granted,” he added.   

Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane not a proud coach despite thew win 

The 49-year-old expressed regret for his team’s underperformance since he thinks they could have performed better.  

“We know that we could’ve done better today, we always want to play to our utmost best, and have some sort of identity and how we want to play.  

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“This is one game to forget, according to our standards, I think we went down to their level and took nothing from them because they are a good team. They’ve got their strengths and weaknesses, but we could’ve done better, and we know that,” he concluded.   

Kaizer Chiefs will now turn their attention to Maritzburg United when they travel to KZN for a DStv Premiership encounter.

By Sinolwetu Tompela