Pablo Franco reacts to Sandile Zungu’s CAF competition ambitions
AmaZulu FC head coach Pablo Franco Martin has reacted to the club president Sandile Zungu’s ambitions to see the team compete in CAF competitions next season.
Martin was speaking after a 3-1 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday evening at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Usuthu haven’t had a good start to the 2024/25 season, suffering defeats in their first two matches against Polokwane City FC [2-1] and Kaizer Chiefs [3-1].
Despite these unfavourable outcomes, Martin expressed satisfaction with his players’ performances in the recent matches, noting that they occasionally outperformed their opponents despite the losses.
The Spanish coach was asked whether he was confident he would secure a spot in one of the CAF competitions this season, in line with Sandile Zungu’s aspirations.
Martin emphasised a short-term focus on continuous improvement rather than setting long-term targets.
He reiterated his faith in the squad he has at his disposal and is optimistic about achieving the team’s objectives this season.
PABLO FRANCO MARTIN HAPPY WITH AMAZULU’S PERFORMANCES SO FAR
“As a coach, I know that my profession is about tomorrow or next week,” said Martin.
“So, to set targets for the long-term, personally it doesn’t make sense. My target is tomorrow, [to make sure] you’re little bit better, work hard a bit more and find more solutions and try to get the players to improve the level and get them to come to the party.
“From there, what I can tell you is that I’m really confident in the work we are doing.
“I’m really happy with what I’m seeing daily, I’m happy with the way we are playing so far.
“But to achieve these objectives in these two games, you can see that even when we are better than the opponents, we are not getting the results, this is because of something.
“So, I’m not going to say we are not going to achieve that, not at all because I’m a believer of the way we do things.
“Playing the way we are playing, I think we are going to get results. We are going to be able to beat all teams in this competition.
“If that happens we are going to be high on the table. Last season, we started with two points, it’s not a huge difference. If we win the next game, we will be in the same position.
“After that, we were fighting for the top eight and we were reaching the semi-final and the quarterfinal for the two cups. [it has never] happened in 13 years.
“I understand that these points are making it difficult to achieve those objectives. But in three days if we get three points, we’ll be in a better position.”
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