KAIZER Chiefs will tread carefully against Royal Eagles in order to avoid another Nedbank Cup banana skin like in the past season when they lost to TS Galaxy in the final.
Eagles coach Phuti Mohafe said his side will draw inspiration from Chiefs’ previous setbacks when they lost to small teams in this competition.
Amakhosi, who have won this cup 13 times, with their last being in 2013, will host struggling the GladAfrica Championship side in the Ke Yona Last-32 round at FNB Stadium tomorrow (6pm).
Chiefs are bookies’ favourites considering their current form where they have been annihilating every team that come against them.
And now this is the KwaZulu-Natal’s turn to try their luck against Ernst Middendorp’s club.
But Mohafe, who has not won a single match with Eagles since he took over, believes this game represents a new dawn.
“Chiefs are beatable, considering their record against smaller teams,” he argued.
Chiefs lost 4-2 to 2009 Nedbank Cup finalists, University of Pretoria.
The now defunct FC Cape Town, under now AmaZulu coach Josef Vukusic, also shocked Chiefs 2-0 in the second round of the Nedbank Cup in 2010.
Amakhosi have also lost to Baroka FC in the quarter-finals back in 2011.
And last year stumbled 1-0 to TS Galaxy. However, this is a different Chiefs side compared to that of last season and Mohafe acknowledges that: “Chiefs are on the roll, they are on fire.
“For us it is a Catch 22 kind of situation if they’ll bring their fringe players or regulars.”
