In the wake of their Nedbank Cup final loss to TS Galaxy, Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp congratulated the new winners.
The German mentor also issued an apology to the Amakhosi faithful after squandering an opportunity to end his side’s barren run when they took to the field at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday night.
“It feels like I am in a dream. Congratulations to TS Galaxy. It was a bit better second half. We pressurised and had a good entrance into the final third,” Middendorp told SuperSport TV.
Meanwhile, the Amakhosi manager lambasted his side’s poor decision making in the final third.
“But it is not the first time, it’s been happening for the last five or six months. The same story, we are not finalising our movements. In the end, we get caught with a penalty like this. But we didn’t score and that’s the story.
“If you are not finalising your moves in the final third, then it ends up like this. All I can say is sorry. They came from all over the country to really make it happen. At the moment it’s very difficult to speak and it’s very shocking,” he concluded.
Moreover, Middendorp’s counterpart Dan Malesela revealed his message to goalscorer Zakhele Lepasa just before taking the penalty which saw the Rockets become the first team from the lower divisions to emerge as champions.
Galaxy will now represent South Africa in the Caf Confederation Cup next season.
“I’m not sure how I’m feeling, I’ll figure it out a bit later. I just wanted my peace not to celebrate as usual. This was a very tense game,” Malesela explained.
“We were seriously under pressure in the second half from the beginning and I said, ‘this is a game where you have to pray to get a counter attack and score one goal and that’s it. And if we score at the right time it would be good for us’. It happened because the nerves were getting too much but defensively we stood firm,” he added.
“That’s what teamwork is all about, sometimes when you’re under pressure you need people to bail you out. That’s why I said let’s not build up from the back because we’re under pressure, let’s get the ball up and see what happens from there. Kaizer Chiefs were more determined than we were.
“These things do happen, we looked like we were nervous but in the end, credit must go to the players because this wouldn’t have happened if they did not put effort,” he concluded.
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