Nabi breathes sigh of relief as Chiefs end decade-long drought with Nedbank Cup win

Nasreddine Nabi says lifting the Nedbank Cup with Kaizer Chiefs may have bought him time to prove he’s the right man to lead the club beyond this season.

The Tunisian tactician guided Amakhosi to a dramatic 2-1 victory over bitter rivals Orlando Pirates at a sold-out Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday afternoon, ending the club’s painful 10-year wait for silverware.

“My first objective for the club is to place Kaizer Chiefs back in its natural position,” he said at the post match press conference. 

“I’m happy for this trophy because it is going to help me continue my process, and it is going to give the fans a lot more confidence in this project,” Nabi said.

Gaston Sirino put Chiefs ahead from the spot before Evidence Makgopa equalised shortly after for the Buccaneers. 

But it was skipper Yusuf Maart who sealed the win late on – a symbolic goal from a player whose leadership has been under scrutiny all season.

Despite securing a first major title since 2015, doubts over Nabi’s future remain, with Chiefs still at risk of missing out on the top eight. 

But the coach pointed to the journey of their Soweto rivals as a lesson in patience and rebuilding.

“Orlando Pirates understood how important it is to build your team. If you looked at how they played today and how they played last season, you would realise that they are a completely different team,” he said.

“That means, sometimes, you don’t want to get things right away, you need to give time to rebuild and to allow yourself to suffer and to rebuild to be better.”

Crucial to that win were the changes made in the second half, with substitutes like Mduduzi Shabalala adding spark and composure when it mattered most.

“We started well in the second half, but we believe that the changes we made with Mthetwa, du Preez, and Shabalala gave us more energy and more balance to get back into the game, and to establish more control in the game.

“It’s been a tough ten years, and you could see that everyone wanted to win it so bad,” he added.

Another bold call from Nabi came in goal, where Brandon Petersen replaced Bruce Bvuma – a move many questioned but one that paid off.

“Brandon Petersen, we noticed that there was extreme pressure on Bruce in these last few weeks, we believe it was inhumane pressure on him.

“we didn’t just want to protect him but we noticed the other two keepers are almost the same level but Brandon has been training tremendously well with Ilyez Mzoughi,” Nabi explained.

“Don’t think for one minute it was an easy decision because it could have gone either way, had he conceded, people would have asked why did you change in the final.

“But our goalkeeper coach was confident that what he’s put in, the work with Petersen can help us. In the 90 minutes, he proved that it was an excellent bet.”

Petersen has featured 47 times for Chiefs, with 17 clean sheets and 46 goals conceded since joining the club from the now-defunct Bivdest Wits back in July 2021.