Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi hopes to post one over a rampant Mamelodi Sundowns this season, Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso looks forward to a quadruple victory over Kaizer Chiefs this season Photo: Sipho Siso

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Although Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi may be pre-occupied with his plans of
building a formidable AmaKhosi team of the future, he has not lost sight of his ambition of
possibly ending a decade-long trophy drought. With his eyes and plans firmly fixed on beating Mamelodi Sundowns this Sunday in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup, Nabi said anything can happen in a game of football. “People might have written us off against Sundowns, but I can tell you miracles do happen and come Sunday that could be our miracle day,” he said at a pre-match press conference at the banking giant’s Rivonia Road headquarters in Sandton. “We haven’t beaten Sundowns in a decade at Loftus and this could be our lucky day. I am convinced if my men stick to the game plan and execute it correctly, we can end our Sundowns nemesis,” Nabi said. The AmaKhosi chief first opened the press conference by congratulating Sundowns, Pirates and Stellenbosch for making it into the semi-finals of the Caf Champions League and Caf Confederations Cup. “I may be disappointed that my country men, Esperance, did not make it but honour goes the Sundowns way, and so does it for Pirates and Stellenbosch. I say well done to all the qualifiers,” he said. On whether he was under pressure to win this encounter with Sundowns, Nabi retorted: “I don’t have pressure to win as I am building phase of a formidable team of AmaKhosi of the future and that takes time, but we will finally get it right.” Sundowns’ Miguel Cardoso said his players need to stretch themselves to the limit to win against Chiefs, they will need the highest level of capacity to play. “We may have beaten Chiefs inside out, but that’s no reason to think Sunday will be a walk in the park. We can only win if we apply our mind to it and execute the game plan with no room for mistakes as they can be costly,” Cardoso said at the packed press conference. Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates’ outgoing coach Jose Riveiro bemoaned the lack of adequate time to prepare the team as games are coming thick and fast. “This is new to us [Pirates] but we will endeavour to do the best under the circumstances as football all over the world is going this route and there is nothing we can do to stop the tide,” Riveiro said. The Mighty Buccaneers are up against Marumo Gallants at the Orlando Stadium on Sunday. “There is a possibility that any of the two teams can go through, and we will need to approach the game cautiously and ensure we don’t falter. If we are not good enough on the day, then it will be game over for us.” On he approaches the fixture with the concept of being a cup game, Riveiro said he does not look at it from that perspective of what competition it is. “We’re playing in it because the outcome has to be the same – to win it.” The scoreline at the end of ninety minutes for both games [Chiefs-Sundowns and Pirates-Gallants] will be the sole decider of which two sides advance to the final.