Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Cedric Kaze has come to the defense of striker Ashley du Preez, who has come under scrutiny after his howler against AS Simba in the CAF Confederations Cup second preliminary round first leg on Saturday.
Du Preez missed a golden opportunity in the dying stages of the game when he was clear and was faced with an open net but instead ballooned the ball over the posts to end the game goalless.
Kaze admitted that Du Preez’s miss is not normal but said that the club will support him ahead of Amakhosi’s Betway Premiership encounter against Siwelele FC at FNB Stadium on Wednesday.
Support for Du Preez
“Regarding Ashley, I won’t say his situation is normal, but such occurrences happen in football,” Kaze said during a press conference at the Chiefs Village in Naturena on Monday.
“Du Preez was devastated after the game because he missed a chance to secure victory in the last minute.
“As coaches, as the club, and as his teammates, we are here to support him when the difficult moments are here. However, we must remain hungry to increase our team’s performance.
“Sometimes when a player misses, social media can be harsh, and it takes a lot of time for them to rebuild their confidence. But we need to be strong mentally because this is a big club.”
Strong defence
Even though they have had trouble scoring goals, Kaze pointed out that they have played well in defense and should continue to do so in the future.
“Last season, we were a team that was leaking goals all the time. This season, we’re going to three or four games without conceding goals.
“When you build a house, you start with a foundation; you need to lock up your defense in your system of playing. Then the forward players can gain confidence to score when they have a scoring opportunity.
“The thing that I believe we should work more on is our confidence because we get the chances; there’s no issue with the last pass or last decision-making for the pass. We just need to raise awareness in front of the goals.”
