Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef is confident his side will overcome Orlando Pirates in the Soweto Derby this weekend.
The two Soweto giants face off this Saturday afternoon in the first Soweto Derby of the season. On paper, the Buccaneers are favourites having secured a double over Amakhosi last season.
With the addition of Nasreddine Nabi and his technical team, Chiefs have improved this season, giving Pirates a run for their money this weekend.
Kaizer Chiefs ready for Soweto derby
“Honestly we have a good team, not very good players but a good team. They all play for Chiefs and they can play from the start for the badge,” said Youssef after his side’s 4-0 win over Free Agents.
“We have good players, good ambition inside, they want to progress. We always, try to keep the fitness of our players and also to try to manage the team,” he said as per GOAL.
When asked about Kaizer Chiefs’ chances of winning the derby, the outspoken coach said it was even, but backed his team.
“The derby is 50/50 for both teams (Chiefs and Pirates). We have our ideas, they have their ideas, we will see next week. We will win, we will see next week during the match.”
Ben Youssef admitted that his players had one eye on Saturday’s match following their 4-0 win over Free Agents in the Nedbank Cup.
“Congratulations to them. For us, I think a tough game, when you play against a team from a lower division is always difficult for our players to prepare for the game mentally.
“The second problem we had is the derby next week, some players start to think about the derby, scared of injuries and yellow cards,” said the Kaizer Chiefs coach. “You saw we made three substitutions to protect our players from yellow cards.
“We had four players on three yellow cards, namely Mduduzi Shabalala, Yusuf Maart, Njabulo Blom, and Samkelo Zwane, so we tried to manage this game, we had to stay focused and also think about the derby,” he added.
Can Chiefs claim the bragging rights?
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