Kaizer Chiefs’ centreback Daniel Cardoso called for calm from Amakhosi supporters at the end of what has been an underwhelming pre-season in terms of results and showing that the three-season barren run will end.
Amakhosi ended their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 loss to Cape Town City in the Mpumalanga Cultural Xperience Cup, a week after losing 2-1 to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Shell Helix Ultra Cup. It’s not just the negative results that have Chiefs’ supporters concerned, but it’s the fact that things haven’t improved much from last season in terms of performance with a line-up that also hasn’t changed much even though the club promised an overhaul. Khama Billiat and Letlhogonolo Mirwa were the only new faces in the starting XI that lost to the Citizens.
“A pre-season friendly is just like any other game, we want to win it,” Cardoso said. “Unfortunately it’s not going well for us. We need to change our ways going forward. We need to start being more positive. It looked like we were down on the field and we looked tired. Maybe pre-season is starting to take a toll on us. But that’s what it’s for, pre-season is to build up towards the season. When we lose these games, it’s hard on us and hard on the fans. The fans take it the wrong way and think that’s what we will be doing in the upcoming season. To the fans, we will definitely improve. It’s a setback for us again but we have Sundowns next and it’s a good start for us.”
Giovanni Solinas will take charge of that game against Sundowns after watching pre-season from the stands while the club sorts out his work permit. He missed almost three weeks of the club’s pre-season during the coach search that dragged longer than expected.
“He is a great coach,” Cardoso said. “His philosophy is there. He came a week and a half ago. We haven’t really had much time to work with him. He missed three quarters of our pre-season. I think that once the season starts, we will start going into it. We wished we worked with him in pre-season but it wasn’t that way. I think that he will change things once the season starts.”