Ertugral upbeat as Maritzburg prepare for Sundowns

MUHSIN Ertugral, pictured, is set to unleash his new guns when Maritzburg United takes on Mamelodi Sundowns tomorrow at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in an Absa Premiership tussle at 7.30pm.

The Team of Choice have acquired the services of Thabiso Kutumela on a three year contract from Orlando Pirates and Judas Moseamedi on loan from Cape Town City.

The duo is set to get their debuts against the Brazilians tomorrow.

“Kutumela has been featuring regularly for Pirates but Judas hasn’t been playing. These are natural strikers and we are hopeful that they will help us. They will make a huge difference,” Ertugral said.

“We are in better shape now. Makaringe (Fortune) is back. Kutumela has just come in. It is not going to be a quick fix. We can’t fix it in two matches. We haven’t scored more goals. When I arrived, the team had scored five goals (in 14 matches). It doesn’t start upfront but it starts in the midfield. How you hold the ball determines a lot of things. Having Ndlovu (Siphesihle) and Makaringe will give us a different dimension,” he added.

Both teams are in desperate need of points for different reasons.

Sundowns are four games and eight points behind the leaders, Bidvest Wits, and Pitso Mosimane and his troops will be looking to turn those games in to points.

Maritzburg are languishing at the foot of the table with 11 points after 16 league games, and haven’t won a game since September. Ertugral and his lads will be looking to become the first team to defeat Sundowns in the league this season.

“We have a pretty chance of beating any team. If we are not confident and then we should just give the point to the league. We have the capacity to beat them,” Ertugral said.

Maritzburg have really struggled this season, netting just six goals in 16 matches.

Meanwhile, Yannick Zakri has returned for Maritzburg after he went awol.

Players were given a short Christmas break after the last game of 2018 against Baroka FC at Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.

All the players were expected to report back for camp on December 27 but Zakri failed to pitch.

“Zakri has returned. He came back on Sunday but he won’t feature (against Sundowns). He couldn’t get an entry to South Africa because the embassy was closed until the 5th of January. He got the letter from the embassy explaining that,” Ertugral said.

“Zakri did well with me last season at Ajax Cape Town. He is very capable player when he is focused.”

Ertugral is yet to get off the mark in his tenure with Maritzburg having lost two games. The Turkish coach suffered defeats to Golden Arrows and Free State Stars.