Nabi explains brave decision to drop keeper Bvuma for cup final win over Pirates

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has explained the tough decision to drop Bruce Bvuma for his team's 2-1 Nedbank Cup final win over Orlando Pirates in Durban was to protect the goalkeeper.

Chiefs lifted their first trophy in 10 seasons with the victory, finally putting to an end an excruciatingly long barren spell for the once trophy machines and bringing some relief to embattled Nabi. 

The Tunisian sprang a huge surprise in his starting line-up by completely omitting Bvuma, who has been a regular starter in recent few months, from Chiefs' match-day squad. 

Brandon Petersen, who was partly at fault with his defenders for Evidence Makgopa’s equaliser, had a solid game otherwise between the sticks, deputised on the bench by Fiacre Ntwari. 

Asked about the surprise brave decision, Nabi said Bvuma has been under a lot of pressure. 

“About Brandon Petersen starting the match, we noticed there was extreme pressure on Bruce Bvuma in the past few weeks and we believed it was inhuman. So, we wanted to protect him,” the coach said. 

Nabi said he and his technical staff had confidence in Petersen because he has been training well under goalkeeper coach Ilyes Mzoughi. 

“The two goalkeepers are almost the same level — Brandon has been training well with the goalkeeper coaches. For one minute, don’t think this was an easy decision because it could have gone either way. 

“If we lost the match people were going to say, 'Why did you change the goalkeeper for a cup final?' Our goalkeeper coach was confident because of the work he has been putting on the training ground. 

“Our goalkeeper coach believed Brandon could help us and he proved through the 90 minutes that he was an excellent bet.” 

Petersen said he was ready to perform when called upon. 

“If you play for Chiefs and don’t perform, you are always going to be under pressure. What was important for us as a team was to come together.

“For me it was a matter of getting the trophy for the club regardless of whether I am pitch or not to give the motivation to the guys who are playing. 

“Fortunately I got the chance to start and as a footballer you always dream of moments like this. It is still surreal but I am happy and hopefully this is something we can build on for the future and keep the happy days. 

“It was special because there was a lot of doubt. There were always going to be questions as to when are they going to win the trophy.

“But we wanted it more and we were not fighting for us only but for millions of people who had our backs during the bad times.” 

Gaston Sirino put Chiefs ahead early from a 10th-minute penalty before Makgopa's 17th-minute equaliser. Yusuf Maart scored the 80th-minute winner.