Nasreddine Nabi has revealed the extreme lengths and conditions Kaizer Chiefs have gone to during their pre-season camp in preparing the squad for the upcoming season.
Chiefs are headed back to South Africa after a two-week pre-season camp in the Netherlands. The side played five friendly matches, with only one ending in victory.
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Nevertheless, head coach Nabi is confident his side acquired the lessons he had set out, a mission that saw the squad train twice a day on some days and play back-to-back matches during camp.
All this, in a bid to prepare for the CAF Confederations Cup as well as the league season.
"Our camp took place in beautiful surroundings," Nabi told the club's website.
"The fields on which we trained were in perfect condition, and our opponents were really good. As a result of all this, the pre-season camp was beneficial to everyone.
"One of the conditions of having a good season is having a good pre-season - that's where the foundation is laid.
"We didn't only want quality opponents.
"We also wanted quantity. Parallel with this, we did some tough physical work at training, even doing double sessions on the day before a match.
"We did this to have the players play games, feeling extremely fatigued. That was not only to prepare the team for the league season, but also for the CAF Confederation Cup games, for which we will often have to travel for long hours," he went on, while adding that that is when players will have to perform while feeling very tired.
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"We even had two sessions the day after one of the friendlies, with the objective of getting the players mentally ready.
"That's also why we organised back-to-back matches twice, playing a friendly two days in a row. It allowed us as well to give maximum opportunities to all the players to get minutes."
Amakhosi turn focus to the Toyota Cup, where they will do battle against Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
Photo: Kaizer Chiefs
