Kaizer Chiefs’ fairytale run in the CAF Champions League continues as they made history by qualifying for the semifinals for the first time in their history.

Amakhosi exceeded all expectations in Africa’s premium club competition and their journey in the competition continues. However, coach Gavin Hunt is worried that their progress on the continent will interfere with their preseason plans.

“Well, the CAF Champions League preparations are a problem for us because it interferes with the preseason, but anyway we will worry about that when the time comes. We’ve got three games left in the DStv Premiership and we have to concentrate on them now and try to get ourselves higher up the log table,” said Hunt.

Despite losing their quarterfinal second-leg encounter 3-0 against Simba SC, the Soweto giants advanced to the semis 4-3 on aggregate. Their 4-0 victory at FNB Stadium in the first-leg last week was good enough to guarantee their passage to the last four. Hunt’s men came to Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with a 4-0 lead. Amakhosi played in from of a strong 10,000 crowd in the capital, but did enough to advance to the next stage of the competition.

They will meet Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in the semifinal. The two teams were drawn in Group C in the group stages.

Wydad hammered Amakhosi 4-0 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in February. However, Amakhosi recorded a 1-0 win over the 2017 Champions League winners at FNB Stadium last month. Wydad finished on top of Group C with 13 points, followed by Amakhosi in second place with nine points from six games.

The two teams will meet again in two-legged semifinals, with the winner advancing to the cup final. Few believed that Hunt’s team would get out of the group stages in a group that had Wydad, Horoya of Guinea, and Petro de Atletico of Angola.

However, Amakhosi defied the odds to qualify for the quarterfinals and they are the only SA representatives left in the competition after Mamelodi Sundowns were eliminated 3-1 on aggregate by Egyptian giants Al Ahly.

“It is mission accomplished and it was difficult today [Saturday], but we got through that ... it is the most important thing. We dug in. There was no danger for 25 minutes and then they scored and made things difficult for us. We played most of the game under pressure,” said Hunt.

He said Simba threw everything at them and that it was expected as they were playing at home. “They threw numbers forward and we had problems because we could not win the first and second balls. We kept on giving the ball away cheaply, but we are through to the semis.”

The hard-to-please coach said getting to the group stages in the first place is an achievement. “It is history just to get into the group stages. I dedicate this win to the club and the supporters, it is not for me. It has nothing to do with me, it is for the club,” said Hunt.