FROSLER FANCIES CHIEFS’ CHANCES AGAINST MOROCCANS

KAIZER Chiefs defender Reeve Frosler is confident that they can beat Wydad Casablanca tonight in the penultimate round of the CAF Champions League’s group stage as long as they convert their chances.

Chiefs have had a turbulent outing in the pan-African competition. They are third on the standings in Group C with five points, level with second placed Horoya Athletic Club and five behind leaders Wydad, who are twotime African champions.

Chiefs have one win against the bottom-placed Petro de Luanda, two draws against Horoya and one defeat against Wydad. That 4-0 defeat at the expense of the Moroccan giants was a footballing lesson.

They will host The Reds at the FNB Stadium this evening hoping to avenge that loss and keep their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals alive. But Chiefs will have to ensure that they are clinical in front of goal from the outset.

“For me, like I’ve said with other competitions, it’s one game at a time,” Frosler said. “But if you look at the first game against Wydad, we did get chances to score. So, if we get the chances in the first 10-15 minutes and capitalise on them, you never know what can happen.”

He added: “They are a very good and structured team. They are difficult to play against. But we’ve got to stick to our strengths, stay composed and you’ll never know what can happen. We need to stay composed and let the game go on for as long as possible.”

A win for Chiefs against Wydad won’t mean they are home and dry. Horoya are unlikely to lose against Luanda. And that’s why Chiefs have to also get a result against the Angolans in the last game, while hoping that Wydad does them a favour against Horoya.

Chiefs’ safest option, though, is to beat both Wydad and Luanda in order to book their spot in their first ever quarter-finals of the competition and follow in the footsteps of local champions Mamelodi Sundowns who qualified with two games to spare.

“First priority is to try and win this game (against Wydad). But we’ll do our best,” Frosler said. “We still have two games left.”

Chiefs’ only realistic chance of claiming silverware lies in the continental showpiece. Domestically, they’ve already missed out on the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup, while they are embarrassingly ninth on the league standings and 17 points behind leaders Sundowns.

Before the Fifa break, Amakhosi gained an invaluable morale booster, defeating rivals Orlando Pirates at home. Frosler walked away with the man of the match award, ahead of assembling for camp with the Under23 national squad that’s preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“Obviously (during the Fifa break) I got invited to the Under-23 national team camp. It was nice working there. And with the Olympic Games coming up at the end of the season, hopefully I’ll get a chance to be part of that team and go to the Olympics,” he said.