Kaze reveals half-time pep-talk that inspired Kaizer Chiefs

Kaizer Chiefs’ second assistant coach Cedric Kaze has disclosed half-time pep talk that changed the course of their game against fellow Betway Premiership side, Polokwane City, on Wednesday evening.

Kaze was in charge of Chiefs alongside fellow assistants in the absence of head coach Nasreddine Nabi who traveled back home in Tunisia to attend to a family emergency.

The absence of the main man did not affect the Soweto giants from maintaining their winning run of the 2025-2026 Betway Premiership season. Chiefs beat Polokwane, usually their tough customers, to make two league wins on the spin.

During the Betway Premiership game, City seemed to have held their own for the better part of the proceedings only to be undone by Siphesihle Ndhlovu’s 79th minute goal.

Chiefs’ problem in the first half

The former Yanga SC trainer highlighted the wrongs he noted in the first half, which ended 0-0.

“We felt like at some point, we played a lot of long balls. We were not there on second balls and we needed to fix that,” Kaze told SuperSport Television.

“Going forward, we were taking time to decide what we would do, and when you do that, you give opponents time to track back and settle themselves.”

What Chiefs changed after the break

Yet the victory did not come on a silver platter, according to Kaze. The assistant coach said they talked to the players, urging them to step up the speed of their passing and be more decisive.

“Even last season, we were struggling to play especially with lower block teams,” the Burundian explained.

“When you miss one or two passes, you become frustrated, lose your focus and give your opponent spaces that can hurt you.

“At half-time, we spoke about it. We said: ‘we need to keep our calm, we need to keep our composure, but we need as well a little bit of speed when we get into the final third to change a bit of intensity for us to be able to hurt them.”

Chiefs have now won two straight games to emerge as the early pacesetters. With six points in the bag, the Glamour Boys joined Durban City as the joint leaders on the Betway Premiership log table.