AmaZulu FC co-coach Arthur Zwane has explained why he would have preferred to have a fixture scheduled for New Year’s Day.
Zwane elaborated on his reasoning for favouring a match on the first of January 2024 after AmaZulu claimed the KZN Derby bragging rights with a 2-1 over Royal AM on Friday at the King Zwelithini Stadium.
AmaZulu’s victory over Royal AM was their third win in six matches since Arthur Zwane and Vusimuzi Vilakazi assumed the role of co-coaches in October.
Prior to their appointment, Usuthu were languishing at the bottom of the Betway Premiership after a dismal run under former coach Pablo Franco Martin, which included three consecutive defeats.
However, under the guidance of Zwane and Vilakazi, AmaZulu have shown signs of improvement. They have climbed to 12th position on the log, securing three wins in their last four matches.
ARTHUR ZWANE EXPLAINS DESIRE FOR NEW YEAR’S DAY MATCH
Zwane expressed his belief that a New Year’s Day fixture would have been beneficial for ‘Usuthu’. He explained that this would have prevented any complacency or relaxation during the holiday period and maintained AmaZulu’s competitive momentum.
“As South Africans, we have this mentality of when things are going rosy for us, we tend to relax; there is no time for that,” said the ex-Kaizer Chiefs coach. “We have to start preparing for the next game.
“I’m happy that we are playing in December, playing on the 24th [in the league against Mamelodi Sundowns] then it is Christmas. We need to change the mindset of our players. They must know that this is business; we are in the business of football, and we are also playing on the 29th [versus Cape Town City FC].”
Zwane added: “I wish we were playing on the first of January – New Year’s Day like overseas. The professionalism will be far much better because there will be no hype of December; we don’t want that.
“We made the players aware of the importance of grinding points now in December to take ourselves out of this situation that we are in right now [bottom half of the log] and if we do well now, I think it is going to be better in January because we would have gained a lot from those games and would have improved.”
RELATED STORY: Arthur Zwane on what sets AmaZulu’s co-coaching apart from others
