Kaizer Chiefs head coach Molefi Ntseki believes the growing confidence among his troops will allow them to mature into a formidable side, stating that: “trust the process”.
Ntseki appeared satisfied, happy, but calm as his men earned their first win in the new season against Cape Town City FC in the MTN8 quarter-final on Sunday afternoon.
Amakhosi showed character as they came back from a goal down to edge CT City 2-1, thanks to goals by Ashley du Preez and Edson Castillo. Meanwhile, Marc van Heerden scored the opener for the Citizens.
The all-important win was also Ntseki’s first in SA’s top-flight as Chiefs booked a place in the semi-finals of the MTN8, where they will face Mamelodi Sundowns.
Ntseki says his team is making progress and is at the point where they are embracing and trusting the process that the technical team has set out.
This comes after Chiefs faced difficulties in pre-season, losing their two games against Yanga and Township Rollers during their African tour.
On top of that, their start in the DStv Premiership didn’t inspire much confidence as they drew 0-0 against Chippa United and lost 2-1 to Sundowns.
However, against CT City, there was a hint of dominance and willingness to fight and win.
‘TRUST THE PROCESS’, SAYS MOLEFI NTSEKI
“We came into this game after we lost the game at Sundowns. We needed to give a good performance,” said Ntseki.
“And I must say the players responded in terms of implementing the plan today. From the first minute, we could see that they really wanted to be in this game.
“We were putting pressure on the opponents, and we did not give them much space to play. And I think the counter-pressing was very good, it was spot on.”
In the next passage, Ntseki was very pleased with his players’ response. He mentioned the positive trajectory both in the club’s belief, the individual and collective performances.
“I think you can see the performance of the players, they are believing in themselves. They believe in what we’re working on,” he added.
“We always say ‘trust the process’. The process has various stages. And the first stage we experienced today [Sunday] was a win and qualifying for the semi-finals. They were very positive, the attitude was good.”
The Soweto giants will return to league action as they are set to play TS Galaxy. The game will be played on Sunday, 20 August 2023 at Mbombela Stadium.
Story by Joshua Hendricks
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