DURBAN - Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi is confident of ending the team's trophy drought when they face Orlando Pirates in the 2025 Nedbank Cup final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban tomorrow.
The highly anticipated Soweto Derby has sold out, with kickoff scheduled for 15:30.
A win will be important in different ways for both teams as they are heading towards the end of the 2024/25 season.
Winning a trophy for Amakhosi will be a big achievement to make up for the poor run in the Betway Premiership.
On the other hand, Pirates coach Jose Riveiro would want to lift his last trophy with the Soweto outfit before he leaves at the end of the season.
However, the state of affairs favours Riveiro, who has won all derby contests across all competitions. He narrowly beat Chiefs by 2-1 in a league game which was played at the FNB stadium a week ago.
The continental experience might also help the Buccaneers to clinch the trophy. They were recently knocked out of the CAF Confederations Cup semi-finals by Pyramid on a two-legged completion.
They are currently chasing Mamelodi Sundowns, who are confidently running away with the league championship.
Nabi says they might have lost the league game against Pirates, but a cup game will be a different ball game.
He says the Pirates winning streak might have a negative impact in the final, and that is where his boys will capitalise.
“I promise the fans that we will offer them the Nedbank Cup.
“We are still in the process, and believe me, soon the team will be a force to be reckoned with.
“We are going into this game with a lot of confidence, and we have all the capabilities of winning,” he said.
He added that he has reached many cup finals in his coaching career, and he knows what is needed to win.
“It is my fifth cup final as a coach. A cup game is a different game from the previous one.
“It is an opportunity to play against an opponent whom they have played against in the past five days.
“ We had a chance to analyse the opponents and we know what to do,” he said.
Chiefs player, Gaston Serino, says he wants to make history by winning a trophy with the team.
“I want to make history in the team. We have an opportunity to win the cup. We played better than Pirates in the past game, but we lost. We now have to come better and push more. We have prepared to win the game. We have played well in most of the games, but we lost. I think we have to focus during the entire game,” he said.
