AmaZulu’s coach upbeat, despite Fifa points deduction

AMAZULU and Maritzburg United are set to welcome back their stars ahead of the KZN derby tonight at 7.30pm at King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi in an Absa Premiership tussle.

Usuthu will welcome Sadat Ouro-Akoriko, pictured, and Ovidy Karuru while the Team of Choice is expected to unleash their midfield ace, Siphesihle Ndlovu.

The trio missed the last few matches for different reasons. Akoriko and Karuru were injured, while Ndlovu was serving out a suspension after receiving a red card against Kaizer Chiefs.

Coach at Usuthu, Cavin Johnson, explained that the duo of Karuru and Akoriko are fit and ready to feature for his side.

“Ovidy and Sadat have fully recovered. Maybe there will be some surprises in the selection but we will see. We have to make sure we try and keep a clean sheet, and then we know that we are on to something,” Johnson said.

AmaZulu are now languishing at the bottom of the table after they were docked six points for breaching Fifa rules.

“The boys have reacted positively after what happened. The mood in the camp is very positive. I’ve been in this situation before with other teams. When you have that experience you are able to rub it off on your team. I’ve tried to do that with AmaZulu. It is about football. What transpired has nothing to do with us. It is something that happened a long time ago.

“We know what the derby is all about – we’ve been preparing for the game since we lost to Kaizer Chiefs,” Johnson added.

The Team of Choice are on the up. They have kept three successive clean sheet while collecting five points out of the possible nine.

United’s coach Fadlu Davids is wary of the threat posed by Usuthu.

“AmaZulu are on the second season with the new coach. You can see what they have formed. They are not an easy team. They are no walk overs – they are a formidable side which plays good football.

“It is going to be a typical KZN derby and there are bound to be fireworks. Ndlovu is coming and that’s created competition amongst the squad. It is not going to be an easy game, as AmaZulu have shown that they are a team to be counted this season,” David explained.

The Team of Choice might have shown signs of improving in their previous matches but Davids feels that there’s a lot more room for improvement for his side.

“We haven’t played to our true potential. Let us hope we can continue and keep growing as a team. There’s a lot of area’s that we need to improve on. The team spirit is there. The Team is showing that they want to bounce back. They don’t want to look down and be in the position they are. We need to improve our attack. We need to build new combinations with the new attack,” he concluded.