Brandon Petersen: It Was Little Bit Tough

Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen shares his thoughts on the club’s three weeks old 2024-2025 pre-season.

Amakhosi travelled to Turkey this past Thursday after starting pre-season three weeks ago in their home village in Naturena less than a month after the ending of the 2023-2024 season.

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One of the club’s goalkeepers on the pre-season tour, Petersen shared his experience of how the pre-season under a new technical team has been.

While acknowledging the importance of bonding as a team, he also revealed that the club is in its third week of the pre-season, having started preparations for the next season two weeks ago.

“Traveling with the team and bonding experience is quite good. Trips like this is[are] where you form that culture, that brotherhood. You spend a lot of time with each other generally its a day or two, but this is almost three weeks. So, it’s been so good so far, and we are looking forward to it, and I think it’s gonna[going] to be a blast,” Petersen said to Supersport TV.

The former now-defunct Bidvest Wits shot-stopper also commented on the level of the training sessions under the new technical team led by Nasreddine Nabi and how they do things differently.

“The first two-and-a-half weeks of pre-season in South Africa, Johannesburg, it was tough.Obviously, with the new guys in, new fitness trainer, new assistant coach, [and] new goalkeeper coach.

“They put us through our paces, and it was a bit different for us, especially for the goalkeepers. Generally, we would try to build, and by the second [or] third week, we start going, and we just went straight of the top.

“The first two days it was bit tough, but after that we could feel our body adapting, getting better, getting stronger, and now I think we are used to it and we are looking forward to the next weeks of pre-season.”

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He also touched how young players are doing and the importance of having them at the age they are and how it impact the club going forward.

“It’s good for me. Coming from the academy, I know how important it was for me as a player coming from the academy into the first team.

“How it feels when you are welcomed with open arms, but the aspect of working hard and I think the guys have been doing.

“Some good talent, and I mean they shown us some flames, some of the guys, and really looking forward to spending [the] rest of camp with them. Obviously, sharing some experience with them and helping them to shine for the team,” Petersen concluded.

The Naturena-based club is expected to return to South Africa during the second last week of this month, as they are set to spend close to three weeks in Europe.