On Cape Town City's MTN8 loss to Chiefs
Our mindset ahead of the Kaizer Chiefs match was very positive, we knew what we needed to do to win and we knew what type of a game it was going to be. The game was everything that we expected and everything that we prepared for. We played well because we knew what they were going to try and do. It's just a pity that there was one small mistake here and one small mistake there, but it's part of the game. For the first goal that they scored, they caught us with one ball behind and we had a player lose a bit of footing. They caught us on the breakthrough and for myself as a goalkeeper to concede two goals like that, it's difficult. But for the game as a whole, I think it was one of those games we should have won.
We felt we should have won it and we just let it go the other way where they got the better of us. The first goal they scored went through my legs, those are the hardest for the goalkeeper where you try to make yourself big and literally the only gap they could find was between my legs. When the ball moves at that speed, it's difficult to close your legs in time. It's exactly the same with the second goal because I don't even think he (Edson Castillo) intended to go for the goal. I think he tried to play the ball across, but he caught it firm enough and it hit the inside of my leg and went in. With those things, the ball could go anywhere – the defender could drop it, it could hit my knee, but that one just happened to work out for them on the day. That is football. That is where games are won and lost and it just went their way.
On facing SuperSport United up next
After the match against Chiefs, we had a day off, which was much-needed, and then started preparing for the match against SuperSport United. We have to approach the game the same way we did against (Moroka) Swallows and have a full go at them. They beat us twice last season and we owe them big time now. I can tell you now that it's a game that our group of players, coaching staff and the club as a whole are looking forward to. We are really preparing ourselves and ready to go. The two games that we won are gone, the two clean sheets that we have are history, the game we lost against Chiefs is gone and today is a new day. The sun rises again and we have to go from the beginning. We have to take every game as it comes, we can't look at what we have done previously. We have to try and accept the things that go our way and learn from it and keep the things that went our way and move forward with it. At the end of the day, a new game is a new challenge and we have to prepare for it from the beginning. We have to leave no stone unturned and approach the game with our heads facing forward.
On his season assessment so far
Apart from the defeat against Kaizer Chiefs this past weekend, things are going well so far. We had a great pre-season; we worked hard and did what we needed to do. In our first two matches of the season, we got six points. I thought we deserved to win the MTN8 match against Kaizer Chiefs, but, you know, it's part of football and part of life, so we have to move on. But just to go back from the start, in the first match we played against Polokwane City at home and I think it was a pretty good performance. It was a bit one-sided, we definitely had all of the chances and should have been a couple of goals up at half-time. It was typical of Cape Town City where we struggle to score in the first 15 minutes when we get our chances. We had to keep fighting until the end. The best thing is that we never stopped, we kept doing what we needed to do and put in the quality balls (up) to the very last minute, and that helped us get the win at the end.
The second match against Swallows was a little bit tougher. The conditions and humidity in Johannesburg always play a part. But I felt that we controlled the majority of the game, we had most of the ball possession. We played the way we wanted to play and just kept fighting as a team. We had a couple of chances in the first half, which we didn't take. We kept going and going until we got a goal midway through the second half. We grinded out a 1-0 win, which was the most important thing. The defenders that we had, the holding midfielders that we used, they have been fantastic for us in the last three games, including the two clean sheets that we kept. When we keep clean sheets, it allows us to push forward and go for the win. This season, there is very little time to prepare for the game.
On the fixture congestion
After the first match at home, we didn't have that much time to prepare – you play and straight after that game you ice-bath, go to training and then regeneration. Then after that, we try to do massages and things like that. The following day, we just try to do tactical work for 45 minutes in the morning and hop on the next flight out to prepare for the match against Swallows. Even when we got to Jo'burg, we arrived in the evening and went to dinner and tried to get as much recovery time as we could. Preparing for the Chiefs game, we had to do that all over again. It's a non-stop process of recovery, more than anything. It's recovery, video work and a bit of tactical work, and that's the preparation. In Europe, when games are jam-packed, they follow the same process. But there, most of the midweek games are Europa League and UEFA Champions League; league matches are played over the weekends. The smaller teams who don't play Europa League and UEFA Champions League do have a week to prepare. With the Africa Cup of Nations coming up, I know that is why our season is so jam-packed – we have to try and get as many games as possible for players to be available for Afcon. I know the reason behind it and I know it's tough.
Darren Keet,
Cape Town City goalkeeper
