Erratic Chiefs bow out of Confederation Cup after losing to Zamalek

Amakhosi finished third behind Zamalek and Al Masry.

Kaizer Chiefs bowed out of the CAF Confederation Cup after losing 2-1 to Zamalek of Egypt in the final group match at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo on Saturday evening.

Amakhosi, who went into this match on top of the log, needed to avoid defeat in order to go through to the knockout stage of the competition, but poor defending allowed Zamalek to topple them at the top.

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The defeat meant that Chiefs finished third in Group D behind Zamalek and Al Masry who beat Zesco United 2-0 at home and took the second spot on goal scored. Amakhosi and Al Masry were tied on points, on head to head stats and goal difference, but the Egyptian side went through because they had scored more goals than Chiefs.

Chiefs co-coaches Ben Yousef Khalil and Cedric Kaze made three changes to the team that beat Al Masry last week. Given Msimango started at centre-back alongside Zitha Kwinika in place of the injured Inacio Miguel.

Paseko Mako came in at left back in place of the suspended Fabian McCarthy while George Matlou was preferred in the midfield ahead of Mduduzi Shabalala.

The home side dominated possession in the first half, but Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen was not kept busy. Besides making an excellent save to deny Oday Mohamed in the 26^th minute, he didn’t do much.

Petersen’s counterpart Mohamed Mahdy didn’t do much in the opening half as the Chiefs attackers failed to trouble him.

Chiefs were almost caught napping on the stroke of half-time when Oday lost his marker, but his free header went narrowly wide of goal with Petersen seemingly beaten.

The teams were locked at 0-0 at the break.

The hosts came out with guns blazing in the second half and they caused all sorts of problems for the visitors’ defence and they created plenty of chances.

The Chiefs defence was finally broken in the 54^th minute when Juan Bezerra got in between Msimango and Kwinika before beating Petersen with a glancing header.

Substitute Abdalla Mohamed doubled Zamalek’s lead with a powerful shot after finding himself unmarked inside the box in the 73r minute.

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Lilepo gave Chiefs some glimmer of hope two minutes later when he pulled one back for Amakhosi with a header. But Chiefs failed to find the all-important goal that would have helped them reach the knockout stage and in the end they ended up finishing third behind Zamalek and Al Masry.