Tearful Komphela: No joy for me until Kaizer Chiefs win a title

09 November 2015 - 02:02 By Marc Strydom

Steve Komphela said it was his players' response, and the feeling that in a big match finally a game plan had come together, that caused him to break down in tears after Kaizer Chiefs beat Orlando Pirates 6-5 on penalties in Saturday's Telkom Knockout semifinal. Komphela said, despite guiding Chiefs to a second cup final in succession, he would remain unsatisfied and "an empty man" until he had won a trophy.After years of performing wonders with small teams, Komphela has been given his first assignment at a big club. The former Chiefs defender and Bafana Bafana captain faces a tough task in replacing Stuart Baxter - who won two league and cup doubles in three seasons.It has been a mixed start.Amakhosi have lost just once in the league and are in fifth place. In their two big matches of the season - a 1-0 defeat to Ajax Cape Town in the MTN8 final and last weekend's 3-1 league loss to Pirates - Chiefs were flat, raising questions about their big-match temperament under Komphela.On Saturday, Chiefs played to a plan, at times dominating, at others weathering the storm of the Pirates' counterattacks, eventually triumphing in the lottery of the penalty shootout."As much as football is a sport, football is movement. And there are a whole lot of other things that will touch your heart," Komphela said, explaining his emotional response."You get to a point of confirmation when you say:, 'I think the response was prompt.' and you look up and say: 'Throughout the time I've never broken my way.' Then you break down."We shall never rest until we win a trophy for this club. The process that goes towards winning a trophy is winning matches. As much as winning matches brings joy, to us it's never joyful because the ultimate has not been achieved."The fact that we have reached two cup finals - an outsider might think maybe something is happening there. But did we get anything from it? No, we're still not satisfied."I hope to stand here one day at the back of winning a trophy, having it here. As it is, I'm still an empty man, without anything - still striving and fighting to get something."Komphela has yet to win a trophy in his 13-year career as a football coach...

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