Chiefs one step away
ZWANE: POINTS TO WYDAD‘S ARROGANCE IN GROUP STAGE
Moroccan team must be regretting the day they sent a B-team to face Chiefs in the earlier phase.
Kaizer Chiefs’ interim coach Arthur Zwane pointed at a sense of arrogance in the Wydad Casablanca camp that goes as far back as the group stages, in explaining how Chiefs turned the tables on Wydad to reach the Caf Champions League final.
Amakhosi’s goalless draw at FNB stadium on Saturday was enough to send them through to a first-ever final of the biggest club tournament on the continent, following a 1-0 win in Casablanca a week earlier.
Chiefs will now play Pitso Mosimane’s Al-Ahly on 17 July in
Casablanca at the same stadium in which they won that first-leg semifinal.
It was a particularly remarkable effort considering Wydad had hammered Chiefs 4-0 in the group stages.
Chiefs won the return group match 1-0 in Johannesburg but Wydad had sent their second string team to South Africa and even their coach, Faouzi Benzarti didn’t make the trip, sending his assistant instead.
Zwane feels this arrogance on the part of their opponents helped his side remain an unknown entity to them.
“It was never going to be an easy journey for us. We knew it was going to be tough because we were competing against the best team on the continent,” said Zwane.
“We knew their strength from day one, I think they will regret the day they decided to send their B-team.
“I think it’s more of a lesson especially for us that when you’re on the road, you don’t take anyone
for granted,” said Zwane after Saturday’s match.
“We were obviously underdogs competing against them and they paid the price because I think if they had sent their best team that time, maybe things would have been different.
“Unfortunately for them, they took us for granted…and we gave them something to think about and surprised them. They are a good team, there is no doubt about that. They are a solid team, good in defence, also very good going forward.
“But they also have their weaknesses like any other team. Whatever formation they put up there, we were still going to capitalise.”
Chiefs did play very defensively in both legs of the semifinal, but that proved to be a tactical master stroke.
“The way we planned worked for us, we knew if we went poundfor-pound with them, we would open up and give them space to punish us. They had a few chances but Daniel Akpeyi and the defence came to the party.”