Prior to this season’s competition, the Glamour Boys of Soweto had never made it past the first group phase of Africa’s premier club competition
While admitting that Kaizer Chiefs’ domestic form has been below par, winger Happy Mashiane feels his team has “overachieved” in the Caf Champions League.
The Glamour Boys now stand a great chance to make the semi-finals, thanks to their 4-0 victory over Tanzanian side Simba SC in a quarter-final first leg encounter played at the FNB Stadium last weekend.
Mashiane, though, has cautioned against over-confidence away in East Africa.
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“Those guys can play, we mustn’t take that for granted, we mustn’t get carried away knowing that we scored four goals against them,” he told the Chiefs media department.
“Anything can happen in the game of football so we have to go there and be mentally fit. The coach told us not to get carried away, knowing that anything can happen when we get there.
“We managed to score four, so they can also score four. We have to go there and work extra hard, we mustn’t think things will be rosy for us like in the first leg at the FNB Stadium. We have to work extra hard and be focused.”
The 23-year-old Mashiane has four goals and two assists in all competitions for Chiefs in what has been his most productive season for the club.
He’s optimistic that the season could still get better for him and his teammates.
“We all wanted to achieve something. In terms of us not getting results in the Premier Soccer League, I think this [the Champions League run] is a massive, massive, massive booster,” he added.
“I think we overachieved regardless of what is going on. There’s no way we can turn back, we want to go to the final, at least we have to make history knowing very well that we broke some records.”
Also still in the competition are Amakhosi’s local rivals Mamelodi Sundowns, who will be hoping to overturn a 0-2 deficit when they host nine-time Champions League winners Al Ahly in Pretoria, also on Saturday.
Chiefs’ clash against Simba takes place in Dar-es-Salaam at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium and both matches kick off at 15:00 South African time.
The other clubs still in the running are CR Belouizdad, who are 2-0 down against ES Tunis, while MC Alger and Wydad Casablanca are locked at 1-1 after their first-leg quarter-final match.
