Durban — The glamour of the MTN8 cup takes over this weekend with a number of high-profile fixtures set to entertain.
AmaZulu and Cape Town City will battle it out in the first quarter-final of the competition at the Athlone Stadium on Saturday in a 3pm kick-off.
The two sides have already met this season with AmaZulu claiming a home league victory. Having played each other no longer than three weeks ago and produced entertaining goals, it is no wonder this fixture is one of the most anticipated.
Usuthu captain Makhehleni Makhaula dismissed assumptions of complacency in his side’s camp and expressed that he and his teammates are aware of the threat City pose.
“We’ve studied Cape Town City really well and we know what they’re capable of in terms of danger,” he told IOL Sports.
“We know they like overloading the middle of the park so they can dominate matches so if we can shut them down on the wings and we perform our roles well in the centre then I believe that gives us a good platform for us to go and win the match.”
AmaZulu have lost just one of their last nine match-ups against the men from the Cape, however the two sides head into this encounter on the opposite sides of the confidence scale.
Brandon Truter’s AmaZulu lost to Arrows in their last match while City dispatched giants Kaizer Chiefs and claimed their first victory of the season.
City themselves began the season with a number of their most important players sidelined, which makes this encounter a little bit trickier for their opponents.
Makhaula emphasised the importance of understanding that their last match against the Citizens will have no influence on what’s to come at the weekend and also revealed his worry about Usuthu losing two matches in a row.
“As players we don’t have to look back on what happened in the past and the fact that we’ve already won against them,” he explained.
He added: “We can’t afford to underestimate them because this is a cup competition and they’re gonna go all out to win against us which means we’re gonna have to match them pound for pound.
“If we lose against City then that will mean we lose two games in a row and that’s only gonna start stressing us out even more so we have to win this game.
IOL Sport