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MABEDI: CHIEFS’ STAND-IN COACH COMES UP AGAINST HIS FORMER MENTOR
Third place will earn club a place in Confederation Cup.
Patrick Mabedi has admitted it will be emotional when he guides his Kaizer Chiefs side against former mentor and current Ajax Cape Town coach Muhsin Ertugral in Cape Town in a fortnight.
Amakhosi meet the Urban Warriors in their last Absa Premiership match on May 12 and Mabedi – who was captain during Ertugral’s most notable era as Chiefs coach – clearly has a lot of respect for his ex-boss.
“I learnt a lot from Muhsin. It’s not going to be easy for either team. We have to go there and be professional. They are fighting for their lives while we are also fighting for third,” said Mabedi, 44.
The interim coach stressed the importance of placating the fans with a good finish despite the fact they will end a third season in a row without any silverware.
Mabedi got the first win under his belt when the Glamour Boys beat Maritzburg United 2-0, a result he believes sets them up for a good showing against Ajax. If Chiefs can finish third, they will qualify for next season’s Caf Confederation Cup.
“Every coach’s objective is to achieve something. For us it was one game at a time. It’s very important for the team to finish on a good note. This (the win over United) was important to give us confidence going into the last game. We have to win the last one and finish third,” he said.
With the break coming, unlike most coaches Mabedi is not worried it will break his team’s momentum. He sees it as a perfect time to refresh and prepare for the last match of the season.
“The break will be good for us. It gives us a breather. The transition happened quickly and we didn’t have time to adapt,” said Mabedi.
The Malawian has also changed a few things at Chiefs, with players like Sibusiso Khumalo and Edmore Chirambandare now given a run and the team adopting a more traditional 4-4-2 formation.
“In modern football formations depend on the opponents. We felt that 4-4-2 would best suit us for this particular game and fortunately it worked,” he said.