AmaZulu FC head coach Arthur Zwane has expressed his dissatisfaction with Mamelodi Sundowns, specifically accusing the club of orchestrating tactics involving ball boys that he believes provided an unfair advantage.
Usuthu suffered a 2-0 defeat against Betway Premiership defending champions Sundowns at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Tuesday night.
The defeat against Masandawana saw AmaZulu miss the opportunity to move into the top three on the log standings. They are currently sitting seventh on the table with 30 points in 22 matches played.
Before losing to Sundowns, AmaZulu were on a three-match unbeaten run after winning back-to-back games against Magesi FC and Cape Town City FC, while they shared the spoils with SuperSport United.
In a tightly-contested clash against Sundowns, the KZN-based side conceded two second-half goals as the Brazilians collected maximum points.
WHAT DID AMAZULU COACH ZWANE SAY ABOUT SUNDOWNS
Zwane has accused Sundowns of using time-wasting tactics through the ball boys. The 51-year-old mentor claims that the defending league champions instructed ball boys to delay the restart of the match, which is a tactic they’ll also use when the two sides meet in future.
“I’ll take you back to the game. How many times did Sundowns try to press us but didn’t get the ball? It tells you about the quality we have in the team. Usually, when Sundowns press you, they’ll get the ball, but with us they couldn’t do that. I think about six times we came out of the press,” Zwane said.
“In the first half, they were also frustrated, but the problem is when we got to the final third, we didn’t hurt them but with them; when they come out, they’ll hurt you. So that was the difference.
“Sundowns tried to press in numbers, but we made sure because we also have quality players that can come out of high press, but the final ball to get the right player at the right time was lacking.
“We got two 1v1 situations, and with the right pass, you go straight to the goalkeeper. We could have gone to half-time leading 1-0. It comes with confidence, but when Sundowns felt pressure, they started kicking the ball, and even their ball boys started rolling the ball, so we are learning, and we’ll also do the same to them.
“They are going to have to understand in future, we’ll teach our ball boys to do the same, to say that now we’re leading and we are playing Sundowns, let’s roll the ball and let them come get it.”
“We then fight with the referee, it’s fine. You change the ball boy and bring another one, we tell him the same thing, so we learn that’s football.”
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