It was not ideal for Kaizer Chiefs to lose a key assistant coach in August, but that’s football. Is Nasreddine Nabi replacing his departed assistant, Fernando Da Cruz, with Cedric Kaze?
KAIZER CHIEFS LOSE FERNANDO DA CRUZ
As reported in early September, Da Cruz left Amakhosi to join the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) as a Technical Director. The Frenchman left Nasredddine Nabi’s Kaizer Chiefs technical team just two months after his arrival in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, Nabi has confirmed the news while also revealing whether Kaizer Chiefs will seek a replacement or not.
“Why not? It’s possible, it’s possible,” said Nabi.
“It’s possible because I have too much job. Now, I have only one assistant who has specific work.
“If Mr Cruz is in Morocco, I think he’s there definitely because we received a letter from Morocco. But we will have some little time to observe the situation,” the Kaizer Chiefs head coach concluded.
Subsequent reports said Nabi is targeting his former assistant coach at Young Africans, Kaze, to replace Da Cruz.
“Burundian coach Cedric Kaze is the frontrunner to replace Fernando Da Cruz at Kaizer Chiefs. Kaze previously worked with Nasraddine Nabi at Young Africans,” Tiyani Mabasa reported.
FORMER BOSS DESCRIBES KAZE
“Nabi is a tactician who comes in, expects things to be done, expects players to be ready… He is a thinker,” Young Africans CEO Senzo Mbatha told FARPost. “Kaze, in contrast, is deeply invested in individual player development, actively coaching and nurturing talent.
“Kaze has an element of trying to improve players. He coaches them.
“His CV was very impressive; when you speak to him, you could see that it’s someone who knows his game. That’s what drew me to him, and also, he’s an African that was plying his trade elsewhere in Canada. A person like that, when you bring him to Africa, he can find his feet,” Mbatha concluded.
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