Katsande raring to go

FORMER Warriors’ captain Willard Katsande says Kaizer Chiefs are ready to rumble and cause an upset against continental champions Al Ahly of Egypt when the two sides meet in the Caf Champions League final on Saturday night.

Katsande, who signed a one-year contract extension with Chiefs a fortnight ago, told Kaizer Chiefs media that they head into the continental final in Casablanca, Morocco, as underdogs ready to bite.

“Obviously, they will come with complacency and try to undermine us, but at the end of the day it is not about history, but rather 90 minutes. If you want it more, you will get it. We have seen it in the Euros, how football has been changing. It is not about big teams, but rather who wants it more on that day, so we are geared up and ready to rumble. We have sharpened our swords, pulled our sleeves up and we are ready to rumble,” said Katsande.

“They are a good team with a rich history in Africa. What we will do is give them the respect they deserve from whatever they do. But when it comes to match day it is a matter of who wants it more, so we are just going there with our title as underdogs, yet wanting to showcase our talent because we know that we are hungry to achieve.”

The gritty defensive midfielder, who has previously been played in defence, added that they want to make up for a woeful domestic season which saw them squeezing into the top eight with just 36 points from 30 games.

“We didn’t come this far by mistake or fluke. We are here because we deserve to be here and whoever wants it more on matchday is bound to get whatever they want.

“Coming from a difficult season, we want to redeem ourselves. We know how much we wanted to progress, we have wanted to do this before, but we failed and it was lessons learnt. This time it was a chance for us to progress and we kept on believing in ourselves and kept on focusing on our job,” said the former Zimbabwean international.