Gallants’ Game Crucial For Martin And Usuthu
Following a winless start to the Betway Premiership, AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martin has dubbed the match Marumo Gallants a critical one, at Toyota Stadium on Saturday (20:00), stressing their desperation for a win.
Usuthu lost their first league game against Polokwane City at the death, following a blunder from their first-choice goalkeeper Veli Mothwa. While their second league game against Kaizer Chiefs was without any individual mistakes, they still failed to collect points, losing the match 3-1.
As they travel to Limpopo for their third game against Dan Malesela’s Gallants, coach Martin has underlined the significance of collecting maximum points against a side that has not had their fair share of losses this season.
“You know all the games are important in PSL, especially when you are starting the season with two losses, that’s the reality. Even if we deserve much more, these are our results, we have zero points right now so it’s even more critical,” said Martin.
Gallants, despite their possession-heavy style of play, kicked off their campaign with two losses against Chiefs and Lamontville Golden Arrows before visiting Mamelodi Sundowns where they were thumped 4-1, the biggest score of this season so far.
According to Martin, not only do AmaZulu and Gallants share losses, but also the gravity of winning their next match.
“Same for them and they are coming from the second division, NFD, now maybe they are in that process of adapting. They signed many players who have experience in the PSL. Of course, the teams have big targets, and I don’t think the target is just to fight for the previous position or not be relegated. I think they want to save themselves easily or even fight for the top eight like most of the teams here,” the Spaniard explained.
While Martin is aware of all the similarities, he is also cognizant of the traveling disadvantages his team faces.
“Probably more critical for us, it’s going to be even more difficult for us because we [will] play away, and we know the difficulties of playing away in this league. Secondly, we have one day less rest because we need to travel by bus, a nine-hour trip. We won’t have time to recover our players, it’s going to be like playing another 90 minutes plus extra time plus penalties,” complained the coach.
Martin’s complaints about the league’s schedule come close after Chiefs’ head coach Nasreddine Nabi blasted the PSL for their short turnaround game against Sundowns on Saturday, underscoring both the coaches’ frustrations over a pile of games, a pile of expectations, and very less time to work on their teams.
