Chiefs loving underdog tag

Katsande says the two league wins at the end of the season was a turning point.

Willard Katsande says Kaizer Chiefs have thrived on the tag of the underdog in defying expectations to reach the Caf Champions League final.

Amakhosi will play Pitso Mosimane's Al-Ahly in the final in Casablanca on 17 July, another match which they will be expected to lose, with Ahly going for a second successive Champions League triumph under Mosimane, and a 10th in the club’s history.

It is Chiefs’ first time in the final, with their only previously notable performance on the continent when Muhsin Ertugral's Chiefs won the 2001 Mandela Cup.

Chiefs were subsequently hammered 4-1 by Ahly in the Caf Super Cup, the only time these two teams have met.

Amakhosi, however, have upset the odds throughout this competition, especially in a season where they have been playing under a transfer ban, and where their domestic form was so bad that Gavin Hunt was fired as head coach despite taking the team to the Champions League semifinals.

With new head coach Stuart Baxter watching on from the stands, as he awaits his work permit, interim coaches Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard got the team past Wydad Casablanca in the semifinals, with a goalless draw in Johannesburg on Saturday enough to seal the victory after Chiefs had won 1-0 in Casablanca.

“In these games (in the Champions League) the interesting part is that people never gave us a chance, so we carried the underdog tag from day one,” said Katsande, going as far back as the first qualifying round, when

Chiefs took on PWD Bamenda of Cameroon.

“We were going through a rough patch, and not doing good, but we managed to get a result away from home, and kept a clean sheet, that was very important,” said Katsande, of a tie Chiefs ended up winning 1-0 on aggregate.

Katsande pointed to the two DStv Premiership wins under Zwane and Sheppard after Hunt was fired, leading into the semifinal, as important in their amazing success against Wydad.

“The underdog tag never left us, and we kept on…we knew we needed to be better away to Wydad than we were in the 4-0. We were coming off back-to-back wins in the league, and a top eight finish and now we had confidence going to Wydad. We kept grinding, we were determined to apply ourselves win, lose or draw, and we did that and carried that home.

“We are still humble and level-headed. We haven’t won it yet but we want to work hard and get the victory in the final.”