Win over City a morale booster before Bucs duel, says AmaZulu coach Franco

AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco has described their 1-0 victory over Cape Town City as a confidence booster as they prepare to host Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (6pm).

Their victory at the windy Cape Town Stadium on Sunday was Usuthu’s first in seven fixtures in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) in 2024. 

Junior Dion scored the only goal in the second half to hand Usuthu three points.

Franco wants his side to build on their performance against the Buccaneers.

“[It is a] massive game this week. It has been a long time since AmaZulu has beaten Pirates … most of the time we are losing against them.

“We drew against them in the first round,” the Spaniard said.

“I see this team far from the level I want it to be. I see it growing constantly and overcoming defeat and we should be happy with what we are achieving, but we want more.

“Yes, we didn’t win in the league until now, but we were not losing many games. The team has always been competitive. Sometimes we were playing well, but we were not getting the results.

“We are committed to this project. We know this is a long-term project and since we are here, we are adding a lot of quality to this club.

“We have options to fight for a top eight, knowing it is going to be difficult. But we have faced many difficulties the whole season.”

Franco was also pleased with their performance against the Citizens but said they still needed to do a lot of work.

“It was a huge win for us away from home against one of the best teams in the PSL. We got the results, the three points, and [are] unlucky, [it] not being a huge win,” he said.

Meanwhile, Royal AM coach John Maduka was also relieved to have ended their two successive defeats with a win when they beat Polokwane City 3-2 at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Sunday.

Sedwyn George, Sikhethele Mabuza and Zukile Mkhize scored for Royal, while Douglas Mapfumo netted a brace for Polokwane.

“It has been good at home. It’s good to see that whenever we are at home, we are getting results because it has been very difficult for us away from home,” Maduka said.

“Credit to the boys. They worked very hard.

“But after we scored, we made crucial mistakes and we were punished. If we can avoid that, we will be fine.”