They may have been thrashed 4-0 by a rampant Kaizer Chiefs in the first leg of the CAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg, but Simba SC coach Didier Gomes is hopeful his side can pull off a miracle in the return leg.
Simba were left dazed on Saturday when goals from Erick Mathoho, Samir Nurkovic and Leonardo Castro ensured an emphatic win for Chiefs at Soccer City Stadium on Saturday.
Simba, who were clear favourites ahead of the encounter, had no answer for Gavin Hunt's men, who inflicted just their second loss in their last seven matches.
Despite the result largely favoring a rare semi-final appearance for Amakhosi, Gomez is hopeful that his side can pull off a miracle when they host Chiefs at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium on 22 May.
" I don't know, anything can happen in football. For sure, we are very disappointed, but we are alive, and we are breathing, and when you breathe, you have hopes, so we keep our minds on that. It's very important to believe that you can change the process, but for sure if we want to do something good next week, we have to be aggressive, efficient and we don't know what can happen in football," Gomez told journalists after the match.
Clearly disappointed by his side's fitness on the day, the Frenchman and his technical team decided to partake in one more training session at the Discovery Soccer Park – a base they have been using since landing in Johannesburg last Tuesday, before jetting out of the country later the evening.
