By KOPANO MONAHENG
No team wants to face a wounded lion, and that could be exactly what AmaZulu FC are thinking ahead of their clash with Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld stadium on Wednesday kick-off is at 19h30.
The Brazilians come into this game hurting after being given a hiding by another KZN side, Golden Arrows, in the MTN 8. Now they have to face AmaZulu, another team from the same province, in what promises to be a tough encounter.
It will not be an easy afternoon for Sundowns, especially with Usuthu also desperate to collect maximum points against the African champions.
Sundowns cannot afford to drop points in this game. A loss or even a draw could leave them playing catch-up, as the big Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, will not wait for them to start collecting points in this league. Every team has to fight for itself and a determine Aubrey Modiba, who captained the Yellow Nation in their Sunday defeat to Golden Arrows, would have loved nothing more than to lead his team to victory.
But things simply did not go his way.
Modiba played his heart out on Sunday, giving everything for the badge, but the ball just refused to find the back of the net.
Now, with AmaZulu standing in their way, Sundowns will have to show whether they can bounce back like wounded lions.
Aubrey Modiba said: “No, playing AmaZulu is never easy. Actually, every game right now, I think we need to shift our focus to the league game because obviously we take the loss against Arrows, but you know, we’ll take the positives in that game going into the Betway Premiership because it’s a different competition,” he said.
He added that coming from a loss Sundowns will ensure that they do not lose consecutive games, and they’re going to try their level best to bounce back and collect points.
“I think it’s important to do well at home because if you can collect as many points as possible at home, you stand a good chance of doing well in the league. And yeah, it’s another game at home in front of our supporters. You know, they always come out in numbers, especially at Loftus stadium”
Sundowns always do better at home with their twelve men behind them: “You know, we can hear them singing all the time, and, you know, our performances are always better because if you can check our last Betway Premiership game at home, the performance was good. And yeah, hopefully we can be able to match that going into the next game. We know AmaZulu are a very good team, tough team, but we’re also a good team, and the coaches will put up a team that is going to do well on the day and hopefully get the maximum points.”
