Chiefs are hoping to finally end their trophy drought of nearly three years, as Free State Stars stand between them and a first cup final appearance since December 2015.
The club have come under heavy criticism from their supporters for retaining faith in Komphela, who is yet to produce any tangible success in his tenure.
However, the beleaguered coach remains adamant there has been progress since he inherited a relatively new squad.
“If there’s anything to be called ‘pressure’ out of what we’ve been through, then one does not know what pressure is. If you ask for more, you’re asking for non-existence,” Komphela said, acknowledging that what he and the team have faced goes far beyond the term ‘pressure’.
“I strongly believe [winning the Nedbank Cup would serve], not as redemption per se but more of, you need it to give confidence to the players and everybody who has been working on the project.
“The first year, I’m sure those who remember will tell you, when we explained the development stage of any team, we said in any team formation there is a forming stage.
“We’ve gone past that; then after the forming stage there’s a storming stage, where there’s dynamics in terms of those [players] coming in and those likely to go out.
“Then after the storm, it’s a norming stage. We’ve gone through the forming, the storming, the norming; I think Chiefs is at the performing stage now.
“Getting results would be a positive reinforcement to players, rather than redemption. After the performing stage, it’s excelling and then adjournment, in which the team comes to an end.”
Komphela further highlighted that any team going through the stages would eventually reach a point where the process would require renewal, and believes he has done his bit in seeing out the early phases.
“All we’re trying to do is to go through these stages, responsibly so, and at the end of this team formulation, when it reaches adjournment then we’re saying, ‘what then?’.
“When the generation we’re sitting on comes to an end, then you’re looking for the long-term plan you had, where then the kids coming from the development kick in.
“So you literally have immediate, medium and long-term plans for Chiefs – now we’re working for the process, that’s where we are. Trophies should be more of a reinforcement than a redemption.”