Time is running out for Kaizer Chiefs in their desperate mission to end the Betway Premiership campaign in the top three.
Amakhosi are stuttering in eighth position, having accumulated 30 points with six games remaining in their league campaign, and under-pressure coach Nasreddine Nabi cannot guarantee if they will finish in the top three.
Such a finishing comes with a prize of playing in the Caf Confederation Cup. Chiefs can also still make it to that continental tournament if they win the Nedbank Cup.
In fact, a third way Amakhosi can qualify for the Confederation Cup is if they make it to the final of the Nedbank Cup and so do Orlando Pirates, who are set to qualify for the Champions League as league champions or runners-up to leaders Mamelodi Sundowns. Chiefs and Pirates are both in the Nedbank semifinals.
Speaking after his team dropped crucial points again with a 1-1 draw with TS Galaxy at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, Nabi admitted it will be difficult for his team to achieve their mission. Amakhosi have been rooted in eighth place for weeks as they have not won in four matches (two losses and two draws), with just two league wins in their last 10 despite attempting to beef up their squad in January.
“We feel we need to take it game by game and we have to be honest, it is going to be difficult because we have lost points where we shouldn't have lost them,” Nabi conceded. “But we are going to go all in and see how and where we finish the season.”
As things stand, Chiefs are faced with a mountain to climb to overtake Galaxy, Stellenbosch, Sekhukhune United, Polokwane City and AmaZulu, who are above them on the log.
Going into the last six matches of the campaign, Amakhosi remain winless after their last four league matches which include losses to Richards Bay and Golden Arrows and draws with Cape Town City and TS Galaxy, who stand between them and third place behind Pirates and Sundowns.
If they don’t make it to the top three, the other challenge for Chiefs is fighting to return to the top eight, and Nabi said they are going to need luck over the coming weeks.
“The players did everything they could to get a good result [against Galaxy]. I feel we are going through a moment of bad luck, but we are going to hang in there. Everyone has to push more and work harder. We are hopeful luck will come back but we will see where we finish at the end of the season.”
About Miguel, we will wait for a report from the medical staff to see if he will be available for the next game.
— Nasreddine Nabi
Below Chiefs on the log standings with top eight ambitions of their own are Chippa United, who have two games in hand, and Arrows, who have three games in hand.
The draw with TS Galaxy may have come at a further cost as influential defender Inácio Miguel left the field in discomfort in the second half with what looked like a calf muscle injury.
“About Miguel, we will wait for a report from the medical staff to see if he will be available for the next game,” Nabi said.
The 59-year-old Tunisian — tasked with the mammoth task of restoring fallen giants who have gone nine past seasons without silverware — said Chiefs again lacked killer instinct against Galaxy. Nabi has bemoaned his side's ability to clinch three points in multiple matches this campaign.
“I feel even in the second half the opponents were pushing, but we had opportunities to kill the game. You keep the opponents alive when you don’t kill the game and they came back at a very bad time and it is frustrating.”
It does not get any easier for Chiefs as they turn their attention to the Nedbank Cup semifinal against Mamelodi Sundowns, where defeat will mean they end another season empty-handed, bringing up an unwanted landmark of a decade without silverware.
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