Zwane shares how he countered every Galaxy move in Chiefs’ win
“We were playing against a team who were in the top eight. They needed a point and ours was to win at all costs,” said Zwane.
Arthur Zwane of Kaizer Chiefs explains how he plotted TS Galaxy’s defeat. Picture: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix.
Kaizer Chiefs coach, Arthur Zwane says their win over TS Galaxy that leapfrogged them into the top eight on the last day of the DStv Premiership was all down to taking care of the details in preparation.
Zwane said they prepared for every eventuality that might happen during the game. They had a counter plan for almost every move that Owen Da Gama would try in the game.
“We were playing against a team who were in the top eight. They needed a point and ours was to win at all costs,” said Zwane after the game at Mbombela Stadium. Samir Nurkovic’s first half goal was enough to seal the win for Amakhosi.
“We knew they would start with four at the back because they wanted to secure a point. It was up to us to take the game to them. But we had to be cautious because we had a game on Wednesday where we gave our all. We knew at some point our energy levels would drop so we needed to control the game and we did that very well.
“We had to plan for if we scored first because they’d obviously change the approach. And for if they scored first, we would have had to have a second plan to try and get the equaliser and winning goal. Fortunately, we scored first… they kept the same structure for the first half.
“And they changed in the second half playing with three at the back and they pushed their full backs up high. We had prepared for that, and we were ready. Towards the end they brought in (Wayde) Lekay and paired him with (Mcxolisi) Macuphu upfront with the speedy winder Shauna (Mogaila) on the right.
“But we had planned for that, we knew (Philani) Zulu would have tired and if they bring Shauna who is very good with one-on-one situations, and we would bring on Sasman. We managed to not concede and at the end of the day we wanted to not concede and get the maximum points,” explained Zwane.
Amakhosi finished eighth meaning they will open the new season with a gigantic encounter against Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8. Amakhosi were the only team to beat Masandawana this season in the league, denting what would have been a perfect record for the Pretoria side.
