Durban — AmaZulu will welcome the visit of Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday when the pair meet in the second leg of their MTN8 semi-final.
Usuthu, at the seventh time of asking, failed to win when they let slip a 1-0 lead to draw with a struggling Maritzburg United on Wednesday night. The KwaZulu-Natal club have drawn four and lost three of those encounters, one of those draws coming against Amakhosi in the first leg of the MTN8.
AmaZulu, now led by the new coach Romain Folz, have an opportunity to reach their second ever final in the Premier Soccer League era, and club captain Makhehleni Makhaula has urged his teammates to avoid being caught like deers in the headlights against Chiefs.
“There is no room for anyone to hide anymore, the match we’re about to play requires us to be men,” Makhaula told the media on Thursday.
“We’re playing Chiefs and they have a lot of supporters in Durban so if we’re gonna become scared and we get hit by stage fright then it’s gonna be a very big problem for us, so we need real men who are gonna fight and create chances as well so we can score because they’re not playing well at the moment too.”
Makhaula also complimented the good work being done by their new mentor as he continues his efforts to instil his philosophy and playing patterns just two weeks into his new job.
“There are a lot of positive things judging off the game against Orlando Pirates and yesterday’s match as well. We are a ball playing team so we do create chances because against Pirates we did create chances and we were just unlucky not to score them,” Makhaula explained.
Usuthu, on more than one occasion this season, have been their own worst enemy as a streak of ill-discipline contributed to them dropping points, just like in their last match against Maritzburg.
Makhaula, a robust midfielder, sat out their last match as he was one booking away from a suspension. He has acknowledged his side’s weaknesses in terms of discipline but believes the nature in which they pick up these bookings is careless but solvable.
“I always try to remind the boys to control their emotions because if I analyse it properly, most of our bookings come when we have altercations with the referee. Therefore it’s very important that we control our emotions heading into such a huge game,” said Makhaula.
IOL Sport