Kaizer Chiefs co-Coach Cedric Kaze has claimed that a top-three finish would crown him and his colleague Khalil Ben Youssef as the club’s best coaches in a decade, as he took a swipe at Ernst Middendorp
In a pointed dig at former Chiefs coach Middendorp – whose team finished second in the 2019/20 league campaign – Kaze dismissed the German’s achievement on Thursday as the Burundian targets a strong finish to the season.
“If this team finishes in the top three at the end of the season, I can even leave and I’d say that I’ve accomplished what no one has accomplished in the last 10 years,” Kaze told Goal Mzansi.
“[Middendorp] finished second with 23 goals from set pieces with a lot of long balls. If we [myself and Kaze] achieve the top three at the end of the season, we will leave and say that we did an incredible job.”
“This team has been in constant progression since the beginning of the season, so are you going to start panicking or are you going to start running because of one month of bad performances? While you have had an incredible seven months? No! There are still 12 games to play and a lot of things to play for,” Kaze emphasised ahead of Sunday’s clash with Durban City at FNB Stadium.
Kaze and Ben Youssef face mounting pressure as the team endures a dismal slump, losing four of their last five matches across all competitions – including a humiliating Soweto Derby defeat and a string of league setbacks that have left sixth-placed Amakhosi’s season teetering.
“There are people with different agendas, saying, ‘Oh, these coaches don’t deserve to be there; the ship is too big for the captain that is leading it’. Today we are sixth on the log and the one who’s third is three points ahead of us and we have two games in hand… I am not saying we’re going to win both of those games, but we’re going to try by all means,” Kaze added.
