MADIBA MAGIC FLOORS MAN CITY
English giants no match for mean Amazulu
MANCHESTER City suffered their second shock defeat on South African soil when a Carlington Nyadombo penalty at the death sealed a 2-1 win for AmaZulu over the English giants in the Nelson Mandela Football Invitational match last night.
Very few would have bet their mortgage on the result. England’s 2012 Premier League champions and last season’s runners-up were beaten by a team that narrowly avoided relegation in last season’s Absa Premiership campaign.
After Bongani Ndulula put Usuthu in the lead in the 20th minute, City replied with vengeful attacking to equalise through James Milner six minutes later. AmaZulu then spent the rest of the match warding off waves of attack from the visitors.
City were keen to put the shock 2-0 loss to SuperSport United last Sunday behind them, but that was not to be.
Aleksander Kolarov sent a shocking back-pass to Joe Hart, which only succeeded in creating an opening for Ndulula to round off the goalkeeper and tap into an empty net.
Order was restored when Milner brought City back on level terms with a bullet from a very acute angle.
Samir Nasri and Fernandinho both had chances at goal after that, but Tapuwa Kapini stood firm.
Midfield anchor Kulegani Madondo often had to remind himself that this was only a friendly, before flying into 50/50 challenges. But his tenacity made sure that talisman Yaya Toure’s influence was limited.
But City, who had assistant manager Brian Kidd on the bench last night after Manuel Pellegrini returned to Chile due to family reasons, attacked AmaZulu with aggravated intent.
By the hour mark they had created three chances – two of which went to Edin Dezko. In the 52nd minute, Jack Rodwell should have put the visitors ahead when he latched onto a sweet layoff from marksman Dzeko, but he poked the ball straight at goalkeeper Aubrey Mathibe.
At that point, City were relaxed, thinking they would get the winner eventually, so onward they went with their casual approach.
But disaster struck when Abdul Razak brought Marc van Heerden down in the box. Nyadombo did the rest and the unthinkable happened – Amazulu beat Manchester City.