Durban — AmaZulu coach Brandon Truter is putting together the final pieces of the puzzle as his side gear up for their MTN8 semi-final first leg battle with Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday at 3pm.
Amakhosi opted to raid neighbours Swallows FC at the beginning of the 2022/2023 campaign as they sought to rebuild an ageing and toxic squad, affording new head coach Arthur Zwane an opportunity to start on a clean slate.
Truter, who engineered Dube Birds’ return to the top flight and then lost his job two seasons later, believes his affiliations with a huge chunk of Chiefs’ new starting men might provide him with an edge over his opponents.
“With the quality I know they have right now, I know they are a very dangerous team at the moment but I think it gives us a certain advantage with me having worked with those players,” he expressed
“If you look at their line-up, they have a lot of players that have worked under me. We’re looking at (Sfiso) Hlanti, (Kgaogelo) Sekgota, (Dillon) Solomons, (Njabulo) Ngcobo, and (Siyethemba) Sithebe whom I worked with here at AmaZulu as well as George Matlou.
“It’s not just players I’ve coached but I have relationships with as well but if you look at their squad they’ve added the striker up front as well Dove Edmilson and they want to win as well so it’s gonna be an interesting fight.”
Following their impressive performances at the beginning of the season when they surged to first place in the league standings, Usuthu have hit a dip in form, failing to win their last four DStv Premiership matches and scoring just one goal in the process.
Their crash ignited speculation regarding Truter’s job at the club, a few suggesting he may be on his way out. However the 45-year-old mentor has waved away suggestions that he and his side are feeling any pressure.
“We had a very good start to the season and with that kind of start, the expectations went up as well,” expressed Truter.
“And now we’ve had very bad results in a short space of time and everyone thinks we’re under pressure. We have the full backing of the board and the staff and we’ve only played just eight games with 22 left to play and we’re not pressing any panic buttons as yet.”
IOL Sport