There’s an air of contentment at Naturena and hope that the 2025-26 season might be better than the last two campaigns in which Kaizer Chiefs finished outside the top eight in successive seasons.
That’s the impression I got on Tuesday when the club’s new skipper, Inácio Miguel, and second assistant coach Cedric Kaze addressed the media.
Both Kaze and Miguel were measured in their responses when quizzed about what the club’s fans — who got to boast of some silverware when Amakhosi broke their trophy famine in the Nedbank Cup last season — should expect.
That trophy came in handy after an unprecedented 10-year wait in which the club battled to regain its stature as the No 1 trophy hauler in South African football.
After a promising start to the 2025-26 season in which Amakhosi beat Stellenbosch FC 2-0 away in their opening Betway Premiership match on Sunday, Miguel and Kaze were careful not to raise fans’ hopes as many associated with Chiefs have probably done in the seasons before.
Miguel's answers, barely weeks after succeeding the departed Yusuf Maart as the club's captain, were guarded and mainly spot on.
The Angolan-born central defender cautioned against unnecessary hopes, insisting it should be the results they get in each match that indicate what kind of season they will have.
“I think the fans of Kaizer Chiefs deserve the truth,” said Miguel.
“They deserve us to be honest and I'm very honest with myself.
“I have a lot of people I meet on the streets telling me, 'this season we'll lift another trophy.' The most important thing they have to understand is that we have to go game by game. We can't create expectations because from that there will come disappointments.
“So what I can promise to the fans is nothing but hard work in every game, every training we'll be there. We'll try to do our best to bring the trophies they want.
“But [for now] don't ask me for trophies, ask me for winning games, to go game by game. If we win game by game, we'll probably achieve our goals and it will be easier.
“But as I said, I don't want to disappoint them. The only thing that I can promise is that the group is very connected, very together on this mission to try to bring the glory days back at Kaizer Chiefs.
“But it's impossible to do if we don't go game by game and to be honest with ourselves. It's a big challenge, it's a very competitive league, but nothing but hard work will help us to achieve our goals.”
Spoken like a true captain indeed.
Chiefs last won the league with Stuart Baxter in 2015, and Miguel insists there's no point in hyping themselves up after just one match, with three league matches against Polokwane City on Wednesday, Richards Bay (August 19) and Mamelodi Sundowns (August 27) coming at FNB Stadium.
Kaze too, though excited with the way they started against Stellies despite the absence of head coach Nasreddine Nabi, who had to attend to an urgent family matter regarding his wife in Tunisia, said it was too early to predict how the season would go.
“We know what we have been lacking last season,” said Kaze on Nabi's first campaign with Chiefs where they finished ninth.
“The [lack of] consistency ... is why tomorrow's [Wednesday] game is very important. We're very focused and everyone, the players, technical staff, the management, we know the importance of tomorrow's game.
“The good thing is that we didn't have an injury from the last game or any suspension. We're going to have a couple of players back from various reasons. Pule Mmodi is back from his suspension, Ethan Chislett is available for selection after his paperwork has been resolved. Paseka Mako is also available for selection after being cleared by the medical staff. I think we're in a very good space for tomorrow.”
Though Kaze didn't want to get into the details, he believes the team they have this time is better than that of last season and he expects the results to improve.
“The main important thing when you've got new players is not mainly about football on the pitch. Firstly is to get to know your teammates and get a good feel of each other. You can see that now we're getting where we want to be in terms of building the team that plays together even in very difficult moments.
“It's a team that sticks together. We saw that at the end of the first half against Stellenbosch when we were under pressure, but nobody gave up. I believe that the new players as well are going to contribute because there are so many games coming and everyone will have a chance to help the team.”
The three upcoming games at home will clearly demonstrate if indeed Chiefs should hope for a better season. For now Kaze and Miguel are 100% correct to be cautiously optimistic.
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